Overwhelm
by Cuetlaxcoyotl
Summary: After the massacre of her clan, Uchiha Shizuka wakes up with twenty-odd years' worth of memories of another life and the knowledge that in another universe she's not only a fictional character, but the worst boy ever. A SI!reincarnation fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Overwhelm  
** _verb over·whelm \ˌō-vər-ˈhwelm, -ˈwelm\  
_ : to affect (someone) very strongly : to cause (someone) to have too many things to deal with : to defeat (someone or something) completely

* * *

I. In which accepting something doesn't mean you are over it.

* * *

Shizuka wakes up in the hospital. The car had impacted the taxi on her side. Her little brother was sitting next to her, but if she is ok he must be too, has to be ok too… Except she doesn't have a little brother. And she has never travelled by automobile, never mind a taxi. She wasn't coming home from aboard. Her brother didn't pick her up at the station. She entered her house and the bodies of her parents where there… there was a lot blood on the streets. Her brother had- Itachi had- he was a traitor. No. He wasn't. Because he was ordered to do it. And she wouldn't have found out until after his death…

This is so absurd that she's skipping disbelief completely and just go directly to anger. She will also skip all the way down to acceptance but right she's just going to carry on while being very, very angry because people where very stupid and it messed up her life. And it could have messed her up very hard, if not for the bizarre reaction to the Tsukuyomi that made her remember a past life in another reality. Thank you Eli, for having been such a Naruto fan and saving Shizuka of doing all the shit Sasuke did. And now she needs to plot. She needs to plot really hard, but she needs to know how accurate what she remembers is. She needs information. She needs a concerned responsible adult who will answer questions. What is a good way to attract the attention of a concerned adult?

She thinks of her parents, she thinks of her cousins, her uncles and aunts, all the members of her clan that where loosely related to her, that she didn't know that now she would never know. She thinks of her brother who is a murderer and a martyr. She also thinks about Eli's little brother and how she will never know if he was ok, about how Eli's family lost their daughter. About all that is to come. And cries. She will mourn for a bit right now. And she will use this. She will use her pain and the memories to suit her purposes and eventually people. will. pay.

-o-

The nurse that comes is a responsible concerned adult but she won't say anything, so Shizuka cries a bit more, begs a little and eventually the nurse goes to fetch someone who can tell her answers.

-o-

The nurse comes back with the Hokage and then leaves them alone to talk.

Shizuka doesn't want to talk to the Hokage because a) he won't let anything scape he doesn't want her to know, and b) he's a person likely to notice that there's something off with her and that she knows too much– but who else was she expecting? And she is just deluding herself if she thinks it would be easy to extract information of some other ninja. And ROOT is probably watching. So she will bear it, and she will try to act as 7 years old Shizuka who witnessed something terrible but doesn't know anything, and she will learn of him as much as she cans. She will do with what she has and she will succeed.

He tells her that he's sorry for her lost and then asks her what happened. She can do this. She steels herself –she hopes that it looks like that she does it to prepare herself to recall something awful –, she wraps herself in the clueless Shizuka from before, and she tells her tale.

She apparently passes the test.

Then she asks her questions: what will happen with the bodies of her family, they will have a proper burial, right? They will be burnt, right? Will she have to organise it? To wash them and dress them as she's the only left to do it? She wants to. She does! Really! She wants to do right to her clan, it's her duty to send them off. At least can Hokage-sama see that they are tended properly? Will he promise to see to it himself? And what will happen to her? Where will she go? And her classes? What happens to her house and the houses of her family? And someone needs to do something about the pet birds trapped in their cages before they die! And to take care of the ponds and see if there isn't dogs and cats trapped in the houses… she doesn't want them to die to… and they are going to catch Itachi, right? He can't go free, they must catch him.

The Hokage does promise to see that the bodies of her clan will the treated properly –and she hopes that her half-hysterical and tearful questioning makes him feel bad and guilty enough about to he did to her and her clan to see himself the bodies and realise that some mysteriously lack eyes –, he tells her that some teams will be sent to clean and that they'll be told to round up animals and close down houses and locals and that everything will go to her. He promises that they will do everything possible catch Itachi. But about what is to happen with her…

"Even if you don't really need it you will get the same monthly allowance other orphans receive, Shizuka-chan." Oh Gods, he's not actually gonna say what she thinks he's gonna say next, right? She's a little child. He won't dare… "You will get assigned an apartment for yourself." He just did. "And you don't have to go back to the Academy until you feel ready."

It actually will make some things easier but she could have liked to believe that someone cares about the children.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she says in a soft voice trying to look like she's demurely lowering her eyes, and not like she is hiding her face so he doesn't see the disbelief about the callous disregard of her welfare. "I– I would like to be alone for a bit now. Would that be ok?" He goes, thanks to all eight million gods.

-o-

Once again alone she resumes her mourning –now just for herself and her family– and cries herself to sleep.

* * *

Some things I think you should know:

\- I didn't actually read/watched all the manga/anime. Mostly I know things thanks to fic and people who did read/watched, and search in the wikia to fill what I don't know… so if something happens differently and I forget about it completely… think it is because the canon Naruto world is different to the one Shizuka lives in.

\- I really wanted to write a self-insert and somehow I found it more engaging to write than my "serious" GW/HP crossover (serious in comparison because this is one super self-indulgent) : right now I'm writing this for camp NaNoWriMo (by the time I posted this I was already halfway of my word-count goal!) and there are already 10 chapters posted on ao3. I have planned the general plot of the story but there is still some undecided stuff.

\- I should cover only the first part of Naruto, before the three years time-skip.

\- In following chapters I'm trying my hand at bit of world building in the form of some kind of Shintoism derivate that ninjas follow, I'm not particularly religious nor I know Shintoism that well so let's see how I do and I hope I won't offend anyone nor their beliefs.

\- I did prof read this, but not as well as I should have, so sorry about that

-Shizuka is written to mean "calm" and "excellent" –and it makes extra weird that her parents named their older kid "weasel" but oh well –

-why is ff. net so hard to upload to?

And finally:

\- You have all my thanks for having read this (v)


	2. Chapter 2

II. In which dubious decisions are made.

* * *

The thing is, Sasuke was one of Eli's favourite characters of the show. But he was a mess who made terrible life decisions (and that's why Eli has liked him) and knowing you could have made them too is jarring. Until having remembered her past life Shizuka's childhood had been very much like Sasuke's, their personalities had been pretty much the same too. Even worse, she, like Sasuke, is pretty much obsessed with revenge, she's just going about it in a different manner. People will pay, even Itachi – but not in the way he wants – and she will have a good life in the process.

-o-

The medics keep her a day in observation and she uses that time to think, to try to remember as much as she cans of the manga and all those weird plot-twists (Sasuke was supposed to the reincarnation of some mythological personage… is that true in this universe? what does that makes of Eli?! ) and to plan. She'd like to write it down but there's no way she'll do something as dangerous, so she'll have to hope that the Uchiha genetics hold true and that she'll be able to keep it all straight in her head.

The next morning as promised she gets escorted to a small furnished apartment –in a building near the Uchiha compound. What is this man thinking?! There's no surprise about how Sasuke ended up like that – and introduced to her new landlady, who is a lovely but very old woman. Then she is left alone.

Probably there are ANBU (ROOT and otherwise) watching her.

If that's the case she can work with it, or around it. It may even prove to be a good way to make people worry –but no too much – and question their decisions.

She spends the next couple days holed up in her new little apartment that is actually pretty nice, the kind of place Eli would have liked to live in, sunny and cosy. She is still mourning –because it's good for her emotional health to allow herself to feel grief – and she tries to make simple meals she ends up eating mechanically at exact intervals of time, does what schoolwork she can do on her own, and lays sleepless on her bed at night.

Then one night she just suddenly gets up, puts on shoes, gets out to the street and walks in her pyjamas to her house.

Thankfully the cleaning crew had completed their work already so it's not that hard (it is hard enough already, ok?) to walk resolutely to her house thought the eerie empty streets, past the place where her parents died, and into her room. The familiar bed and smell of the sheets make it easy to fall sleep after having keep herself awake for so long. She needed it to be mildly worrying and not that abrupt, like something that someone like Sasuke would believably do.

-o-

Next morning she realises she entered Itachi's room. Oops.

-o-

She returns sheepishly to the pretty apartment and follows her routine, goes to bed, turns and turns, gives up, gets up, goes home and sleeps in Itachi's room again.

Then she returns to the apartment in the morning. Follows the routine. At night she makes herself a ball under the blankets, doesn't sleep, doesn't go out and is restless all the next day. She cleans all the barely lived in apartment until she gets blisters, forgets to eat her scheduled meals, and spends that night sleepless in a ball. She goes to her house in the morning to train in the garden and ends up sleeping a nap in the engawa.

She doesn't go back to the apartment.

And no one comes looking for her.

To think she was worried about sleeping in Itachi's bed, 'coz in her opinion that was a bit too high in the worrying behaviour list. Either she's under no surveillance or actually no one is concerned about her mental health (then again: Sasuke), so she'll keep living here and she'll move to Itachi's room permanently (because it's bigger thanks to oldest son privileges).

(She totally finds his secret stash of candy and eats it all.)

-o-

Now that she's sleeping regularly she has some nightmares, mixed incoherent scenes of That Night and the car crash that wake her violently and leave her gasping for breath. She also dreams of Eli's life. Those are bitter sweet and nostalgic, but overall good. She's also eating better. She still cries sometimes, and at moments the loneliness of all the empty space around her and Eli's interrupted life gets to her, but she keeps busy training, doing schoolwork –because even if she isn't planning to be absent from the academy for too long, she doesn't want to fall behind – and doing chores, and in this case the natural Uchiha pigheadedness is an advantage, because she decided to live here and so she will live here.

-o-

She still keeps the apartment because the landlady is a lonely old woman whose only income is the rent from the few tenants of the building and she feels bad taking it from her when Shizuka doesn't actually needs the money. It is such a weird feeling to don't have to worry about money –she had never before worried about money, this feeling is all Eli's – it is a weird but good one and she'll have to be careful to don't get used to splurge.

Keeping the apartment proves to be a good decision for various reasons:

1) That's where she'll receive the allowance that she really doesn't need but will use to pay the rent she feels somewhat emotionally blackmailed to pay, and to buy groceries. Because it is way easier to go there once a month that to go all the way to the bank in the administration building and ask to be let into her family account for just grocery money.

2) She really doesn't want to speak again to the Hokage (because he gives her a Dumbledore-ish feel she doesn't like), even less to tell him that she will live from now on her house in the Uchiha compound (even if someone must have told him already) so she can get her allowance there.

3) On the way back to her house from cleaning the apartment fridge so things don't gain sentience there in her absence, she found her first ally in this whole situation.

Old Man Gyu is the best thing that has happened to her since she woke up in the hospital. Old Man Gyu is the cutest less kittenish kitten ever. He sleeps all the time, when she plays with him he bates half-heartedly at the toys and loses interest at soon as he has to jump or chase it to reach it. He is afraid of heights, but when she holds him he just kind of hangs with his body lose from her arms. At night Shizuka lies on her side to sleep and Old Man Gyu sleeps in a warm reassuring ball pressed to her belly. She immediately named him Gyu in honour to a singer Eli liked.

She found him near to the gates and she doesn't knows if the cleaning team missed him when they took all the pets to new homes (and she paid an actual mission so they would find the animals new homes and she even let them sell the fancy koi from the ponds if they wanted, she's generous like that), or if he's one of half feral cats that her clan used to let roam the compound who decided to go back to a familiar place.

He is so cute that she's going to actually take the time to physically describe him: he's a very fluffy still not completely grown cat, white with darker fur on his face, ears, tail and legs, but his super cute little toes are white too. And when he bothers to open his eyes one can see they are a lovely blue. Shizuka is so in love with this cat she's going to leave cat food outside in hopes of attracting other cats, like in that game Eli played until the lack of memory space forced her to delete it from her phone. (It was a very sad frustrating thing to do because she needed only one of the little presents the cats left to complete the collection.) Shizuka is so going to be a crazy cat lady, you just wait.

* * *

Some author commentary:

\- I'll be posting new chapters of this every other day until it catches up with the ao3 version, then i'll try to simultaneously update both

-I'm still not used to write at length in English and I forget things like pluralising verbs in the third person and such, so sorry for that. I really should pay more attention to the proof reading but I always find the mistakes after I publish the thing and ff . net is very hard to update.

\- I like the idea of Itachi having a sweet tooth.

\- Did Sasuke live in the compound? I don't know for sure but I saw an image in colour of the view of his window and there was lights in the windows of the buildings around it, so I'll assume he didn't (or that it was occupied after the massacre and that's less likely in my opinion).

\- Did I dedicated three paragraphs to the cat? I absolutely did, I enjoyed it a lot and I should do it again and again until I make this a neko atsume crossover.

\- Did you enjoyed reading it? I really really hope so


	3. Chapter 3

III. In which some things change, others should remain the same, traditions are not always to be followed but there is always place for new ones.

* * *

The funerals take a lot of time to prepare due to the number of bodies; they all needed to be processed and autopsied (if there where something irregular on them the no one tells her), then washed and dressed –as the Hokage promised she didn't had to do it –, then their paintings had to be acquired, and as they are a clan with a kekkei genkai there won't be a wake. Instead she, the Hokage and some former teammates of different members of her family dress in black and reunite at the crematorium. It's a sad small group, the death outnumber them.

(Shizuka would have liked massive pyres that made thick columns of smoke and turned the sky black. Something visible that would leave everybody throats and eyes itching. She would have liked to make everybody –her brother, the teammates, the Hokage, Danzo, Tobi– painstakingly gather one by one all the bones of her clan with chopsticks as civilians would do, but in ninja funerals the bones are always pulverised after being burnt so their secrets are destroyed too. )

Traditionally there is supposed to be a day of intense mourning. She did it for longer and has neither followed the other funeral rites to the letter, but ninjas are nothing if not pragmatic. It should be enough for her family and it will be enough for herself.

That night she sleeps and doesn't dream. The next morning she'll need to get up early to go to class.

-o-

Shizuka hesitates at the door. She knows is a bit silly, but the only "canon character" she's interacted since remembering Eli's life has been the hokage and she's worried about fucking up. No one is pressuring her to go back this soon and she can keep on her individual studying for a bit longer.

Ok, ok. To be honest she hasn't actually interacted that much with anyone apart of the nice old landlady and the grocer… and that's not healthy. And the more she delays going back to the academy the harder it will be. She knows, Eli did it all the time.

From his place in the comfy cushion Shizuka reserved for him, Old Man Gyu opens an eye and meows encouragingly. Shizuka steels herself and steps on her shoes.

"I'm going! I'll be back soon!" She calls on the way out. Gyu meows and it sounds a lot to her like a "good luck".

-o-

She arrived early on purpose with the hopes of speaking with Iruka-sensei first, because that's the kind of thing that seems appropriate to do when you have been absent. She is in luck and finds him outside the classroom.

He offers his condolences, reassures her about her absence being no problem, he tells her that she cans go home if she needs it and offers to help her if she doesn't understand something or for anything, really, he'll be always available. She remembers he was just a bit older than her when he lost his parents.

-o-

Inside the classroom there are only some other early risers. She debates herself to sit in her old place at the front or to sit somewhere else. Of the "canon characters" there's only Hinata sitting at the back. It is tempting to try to approach her. She hasn't interacted with her before (she hadn't interacted a lot with the rest of her classmates either, she hadn't ever been completely sure how), but Eli had liked her since her first appearance in the manga. There's also the clan rivalry.

Shizuka sits next to her and smiles. Hinata smiles back, just a bit insecure. They wait in silence to the class to begin.

-o-

The classroom fills eventually as the class is about to commence. In this case is fortunate that there were no other Uchiha children her age. All the other children had been at least 2 years younger or around Itachi's age, just a couple had been in the academy and none in her class. It is a bit of a comfort. Also, there are the familiar faces of the "canon characters". Sakura and Ino are sitting together a couple rows down, so they are still friends. Also in the last row, but at the other side of the room are Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba in a small knot of boys. Shino is sitting in the front. The only glaring absence is Naruto.

She's somewhat relieved. She still hasn't decided how to deal with, well, everything that dealing with Naruto involves. His role in everything is too big. Sasuke's destiny was too intertwined with his. She isn't too sure of waiting her future to depend so much on him, but Naruto is destined to be great. He was he will be a hero, brave and loyal and inspiring. Eli had loved him a lot.

Shizuka wants to be in Team 7 with him and Sakura, who will also grow to be so strong and confident. She wants for them 3 to be as they should have been if Sasuke hadn't fucked it up so much. She needs to don't fuck it up.

So yeah, not having Naruto in the room is a bit of a relief.

-o-

The lesson is a continuation of something she had studied on her own, so she isn't lost. It is math and she suspects that's the reason Naruto is skipping class. May be he'll come after lunch when they'll have chakra practice.

-o-

At lunch she goes out to find a quiet place to eat. Her classmates had been giving her looks after realising she was there and she doesn't really talk to anyone yet, even less if they are likely to ask about That Night. Sitting next to Hinata was a good idea in this regard.

She goes to sit by a tree and sees Shino crouched looking at a bush. He's attentively looking at a measuring worm walk down a branch and she can't help herself to not approach to look too. Measuring worms are just too cute. Shino tenses a little when she comes near, but relaxes when he sees her observe the worm. A step to close and a step to open, cloooose, and open, clooooose, and open. It's actually a very slow worm, so eventually she sits on the floor so she can watch as she eats. She shares an apple bunny with Shino, and he smiles at her.

The lunch break ends and they didn't talk and it was very nice.

-o-

Back at the classroom Shizuka realises that Hinata ate alone inside and thinks she too would have liked to watch the measuring worm walk his way down a bush. She looks the kind to appreciate small calm things like that.

-o-

Naruto doesn't come to chakra practice.

-o-

In the evening Shizuka goes home and picks up her groceries on the way. She'll make more food tomorrow so she'll have enough to share with two people, she quite liked the quiet company. Food is a good way to break the ice.

She's thinking about what to make when she arrives to her house. She distractedly calls to announce she's back and enters the kitchen to put the groceries away. There's a meow. Old Man Gyu is probably hungry. She should make dinner for herself too…there's a dead rat on the kitchen table.

"Old Man Gyu! Not in the table!"

She turns looking for him and instead she sees a white cat calmly watching her and cleaning its paw. There's a bit of blood on its fur. The white cat then stands up, goes to her and rubs itself on Shizuka's legs. Old Man Gyu enters and meows in a way that sounds to her a bit sheepish.

The white cat is a girl, Shizuka calls her Riceball.

-o-

After eating dinner and doing homework and chores, Shizuka goes to her room and sees another cat sleeping on her bed. He is black with a white spot on his chest like a tiny star, and he's clingy and affectionate. She has a Gyu, so he calls him Myung after another singer.

-o-

At night she sleeps better than she had in a while.

* * *

Some author notes:

-A quick resume of the traditional ninja funerary rites (basically Shinto but with a subtle ninja flavour):

The body is washed and dressed by the family or teammates if they were very close and if there was no kekkei genkai, in civilian families part is usually done by a mortician. If someone dies on the line of duty (or in the Uchihas case, they were murdered) there's always an autopsy (unless you are a missing-nin, in that case you are burned on the spot or dissected in a lab as you are obviously a traitor and your family should disown you) and everything is done after the body is liberated. Then there's a day dedicated to mourn and a wake (usually they are the same day because it's crucial to dispose the body quickly). For that and the funeral proper, there's a painting of the deceased and the only people permitted to see the actual body are family and very trusted people. In the funeral some chants or prayers may be said, but usually people just say things about you . Then the body is taken to the crematorium. After the body is burnt civilians would gather the remaining bones with chopsticks, beginning at the feet and two persons holding the piece at the same time, to be placed in an urn and buried, ninjas will always pulverise the bones to ensure all the secrets are destroyed with the body.

-Also in ninja Shinto death is not an unclean thing and so there's not stigma either for morticians, butchers, tanners, leather workers, etc.

\- Sorry for the typos and other mistakes, you can point them to me.

-Cat counter: 3


	4. Chapter 4

IV. In which there are fights for love and justice but not in the name of the moon.

* * *

One day, about a month after the funerals she saw while shopping a familiar image in the cover of a manga book. The girl wasn't wearing a sailor uniform, instead it looked like a girly and kind of frilly version of a samurai armour, but the hairstyle was iconic. The manga was called _Lovely Guardian Samurai Moon_. Shizuka brought the first 5 volumes.

She walked home while reading the first one. _Lovely Guardian Samurai Moon_ has pretty much the same story as Sailor Moon, but written in a way that is pretty much recruitment propaganda to convince little civilian girls to become kunoichi. By the time she arrived to the gates she was completely hooked and already planning to buy the whole thing in what would become the beginning of a lifelong obsession to find other familiar stories. (Eli never saw the ending of One Piece, and she really needed to know.)

Little Myung received her at the door, rubbing his cheeks to her legs and climbing to her shoulders, meowing all the while. Old Man Gyu opened an eye as a greeting when she passed his spot and she stopped to scratch behind his ears. On the way to the kitchen she almost triped over Icing or Frosting, she at the moment she wasn't sure which one because they look exactly the same –except one of them is a girl and the other a boy – and both of them are assholes, very elegant siamese assholes. They appeared one day along with Sunshine – a cat with a tortoiseshell pattern in her coat that looks like sunlight shining through three leaves–, followed a couple days later by Yeollie who is huge, fluffy, never ever meows and is probably a tiger in disguise.

She didn't actually followed through her plan to leave cat food outside but they just keep coming. By then she was resigned to turn around at any moment and find a new cat looking at her. She even had begun to appreciate the presents Riceball leaves in the kitchen table every time she comes home, but was still thinking what to do with them because the other cats refuse to eat them.

She was thinking in naming the next cat Luna.

But the next cat was small energetic cat that she still swears to this day is the actual Jang Dong Woo reincarnated. (Being what she is it isn't even that unlikely).

And in that moment she decided to collect the whole Korean boy band.

-o-

These days she almost never feels alone. There's always cats waiting for her at home, and since returning to the academy about a year ago she's been hanging up and eating lunch with Hinata and Shino. They wised up quickly to the fact that Shizuka was making extra food to share and began to bring more lunch too, and then it was way too much and a consensus was made that that they now will bring food enough just for one and the three lunches will be shared.

(Shizuka totally cheats and carries around snacks and candy to slip them under their desk in class or in their pockets when they are distracted.)

(Iruka-sensei always notices but receives hush cookies every time.)

Hinata smiles freely these days, too. Shino is always pleased when someone listens to him. Shizuka is simply glad to have them.

The interaction with the rest of her classmates has been varied. She has no problems with Shikamaru and Chouji as they are easy going and more likely to avoid conflict and drama. Ino is friendly with everyone but hangs out with a group of very outgoing girls, the kind to tease jokingly, be very honest and ask direct questions, and that have been friends forever; they really intimidate Shizuka, even if they remind her of Eli's own friends, because neither Shizuka nor Eli had ever know how to integrate themselves in already formed groups. Sakura is always with Ino and still shy but getting bolder. Kiba just kinda glares at her every time she gets near, she doesn't know why is that, she has never talked to him. Naruto…

Naruto is in and out the class all the time. Sometimes he's absent for long periods of time until Iruka-sensei makes him come again. Fic always portrayed him as having no friends, that's not quite true. He does get along with the boys, he's just not very close to them and often he's left behind. And he has lived alone for a while and whatever guardians he had before where probably shitty ones. He wants people to pay attention to him, that's his whole thing (and he's going to grow up to be great at it, to get people's attention, to keep it and make them listen to him and want his attention back). She wants to help, but he already doesn't like her. He didn't like her before That Night because she used to be. too. much. like. Sasuke.

She doesn't want to have to wait until, and if, they get assigned to a team together. She has waited long enough. There must be something she can do.

-o-

She tries and it misfires. Badly.

They were paired up to spar and she, well, won. Then she offered him to help him with his taijutsu. And he thought she was mocking him.

It was really her fault. She should had waited for him to cool down and to wait when they classmates weren't there.

Because like an idiot she offered him help after she put him on the ground. In front of everyone. When he already hates her and thinks she thinks herself better than him.

-o-

She goes to cry her woes in the sympathetic shoulder of Hinata and things just get worse.

"I sincerely wanted to help, Hinata-chan. Really. And he now just hates me more. What should I d…"

"Shizuka-chan," interrupts Hinata softly, pushing her back lightly by the shoulders, and it shuts her up immediately because Hinata is too polite and nice to interrupt someone without reason, so it must be super important. Then Hinata ask the scariest thing in the world: "d-do you… like him?"

Shizuka can only watch her in horror because she knows where this is going and it's stupid.

"B-because if you d-do I-"

She has to stop her now before it's too late. She takes her by the shoulders too and shakes her just a bit.

"NOOO! Don't! I know what you are about to say or more accurately I know there's only two possible things you can be about to say in this situation and when you do no matter what I say you are likely to don't believe me when I answer you because I do not. Like him. I don't. Not like that." Shizuka releases her and continues not looking at her, "I just think he is very alone and he tries very hard. And I wanted to help… like you and Shino help me…" Shizuka turns to see her again and smiles. "You like him. And you were either going to tell me that you were going to step back or that we should go our separate ways as rivals. But I don't like him and you are my friend."

"I was going to say that it shouldn't change anything between us, Shizuka-chan."

"I- I'm an idiot." Hinata is just too wonderful for the world.

"That's not true, Shizuka-chan." She smiles at her and it feels like she didn't fucked up completely. "You just worry too much. And you care too much. That's… good." Hinata giggles a bit before saying: "but maybe you should read less shoujo manga."

("… I don't read that much shoujo manga, just the Samurai Moon one.")

"Uzumaki-kun will get around. Why? Because you are a good person, Shizuka-chan, and you have been a good friend to us and we will help you make him see that." Shino makes a pause that is an unsaid "or else" and is about to say more but Shizuka hugs him because he cares about her. He is a bit surprised but pleased, and for once doesn't mind someone has just cut his explication. Shizuka resolves to hug him more often, not to shut him up, but simply because he needs to be hugged more. She's also is going to invite them to cake in the apartment she senselessly pays, and to train with her so they can spend more time together. Maybe they'll introduce her to their families (Shino's dad seems to be a super cool actual responsible adult) and she'll introduce them to her cats.

Maybe things aren't worse.

-o-

And just when she thought she was going to be free of romantic drama she turns a corner and overhears:

"I like Shizuka-chan!"

"…so you like her too."

"We are rivals from now on."

This is very, very unfair.

* * *

Notes

(- I managed to upload chapter 5 instead of chapter 4 without noticing for DAYS, how embarrassing. Thankfully I decided to update today in honor to Kim Sungkyu's birthday (you know, Old Man Gyu's namesake) and noticed, so well this is the true chapter 4!)

\- By this point they are like 9 (and super dramatic, everything is super serious at that age).

-Sorry for the sudden time skip.

-I think this will need another chapter (and another small time skip) and then the graduation!

-I recently read a homestuck fic and now I lapse sometimes into the second person. If you see a weirdly placed you is meant to be a she.

-Cat counter: 8


	5. Chapter 5

IMPORTANT NOTE: due to a very embarrassing mistake I posted this chapter as chapter 4 some days ago, if you go back one chapter you'll find the true chapter 4 and everything should make a lot more of sense. I'm very sorry.

* * *

V. In which things are ignored and others are noticed.

* * *

No one actually confesses directly to her so she mostly ignores the thing.

Except when it's useful; don't let it be said she isn't manipulative and self-serving. And it's even good for them. If Ino and Sakura are being mean to each other, Naruto or, gods forbid, Hinata and Shino, she expresses her displeasure and in consequence they mostly try to get along (at least in her presence). And thanks to the fact that she has seen Shizuka eating her big shared lunches and sparring in her free time with Hinata and Shino, Sakura never began dieting and began to take her taijutsu training more seriously (and what a wonderful difference makes something as silly as a change in the perception of the gender roles). She even spars with Ino now, in order to "measure her rival progress".

(She doesn't know where the long hair thing came from. She wears her hair long in a thigh French braid but that can't be it. They thought the same thing about Sasuke in the manga and he didn't have a braid.)

Naruto eventually figured she was honestly offering help but then noticed Sakura's crush on her, so basically nothing changed and Shizuka is still his hated rival.

Fortunately he has nothing against Hinata, Shino and free food so he has consented in certain occasions to sit with them and be feed lunch if it doesn't come directly from Shizuka.

They three are still working in in convincing Naruto to a training session and in making Hinata actually able to speak to him. She doesn't faint anymore.

Naruto attends to class more often.

-o-

Even then he still has problems making a bushin.

The Bushin Dilemma has been haunting her since the resolution of the Shoujo Manga Trope Incident. Her reasoning is this:

Naruto's problem with the bushin is a problem of chakra control - Getting better at chakra control will be greatly beneficial to him in the long run - Hinata is great at chakra control - Hinata likes Naruto and would want to help him - Hinata can't currently talk to Naruto - Shizuka can act as an intermediary and Naruto will accept if it looks like just Hinata is the one actually helping him.

Pros:

1) Hinata can get closer to Naruto and maybe be able to get over her shyness and speak to him.

2) Maybe Naruto will stop hating Shizuka after she helps Hinata help him.

3) He will be able to do the bushin and graduate without problem.

Contras:

1) Naruto will be able to graduate without Mizuki interference. (… that one is actually a good thing)

2) But as a consequence he won't: learn the kage-bushin (which is the base to his whole future fighting style), learn he is the kyuubi's jinchuriki, learn how much Iruka-sensei cares for him (on the other hand this raises an extra pro in which Iruka-sensei doesn't get hurt).

3) Mizuki may not be revealed to be a traitor (this last one doesn't overly worry her, Orochimaru hasn't done anything to her yet, and Mizuki will eventually get caught.)

And so the whole Forbidden Scroll thing is still too relevant to Naruto's future, but the pros outweigh the contras and something needs to be done.

-o-

In the end she figures out a simple solution in doing what every 10 years old should do when faced with a big serious problem: go find the help of a trusted responsible adult. It just needed a bit of manoeuvring to get everything to the optimum position.

She follows the first phase of her old plan and shares with Hinata and Shino her concerns about Narutos's difficulty with the bushin. As expected from them, they accept to help. As the offer comes from the three of them Naruto accepts it. In the original plan she would suggest chakra control being the problem, in the new revised plan she emphasises the fact that he can do the other two techniques. Then they make a series of experiments that give them the following facts:

\- Naruto has more stamina than the three of them and can recuperate faster from exhaustion.

\- He not only can do the other two techniques, of all of them he has the more range in the substitution and his henge is actually solid.

\- According to Hinata's Byakugan (that one took a lot of convincing) and Shino's kikaichuu Naruto chakra seems immense.

Their conclusion is that Naruto has a charka control problem because for some reason he has larger than usual chakra reserves.

They tell exactly that to Iruka-sensei (Shizuka makes sure to bring attention to Naruto's solid henge to plant an idea), Iruka-sensei seems a bit concerned about them experimenting with Naruto chakra system with no supervision, but agrees to do something about it.

-o-

Naruto smiles so brightly when he means it.

-o-

Iruka does get permission to teach Naruto the Kage Bushin and, even if Shizuka doesn't believe he also got permission to tell him the reason behind his large chakra reserves, they seem a bit closer.

-o-

The Bushin Dilemma was solved painlessly thanks to Hinata and Shino, and Shizuka knows she owes them for a lot more than that. She already feeds them as much cake and pastries as they allow, so she gets to the next best item in her list of meaningful small gestures:

She takes them to meet her cats at her house.

-o-

They have reunited before in the apartment and she thinks they already suspect she doesn't actually lives there even if she tries to make it appear so. At least they don't seem too fazed when she tells them that. They do get a bit disturbed when they pass under the yellow barricade tape and through the empty streets.

"I'm home!" Shizuka calls when they enter the house and gestures her friends to take off their shoes and put on slippers (she purchased them the day before: solid purple and green to contrast with her polkadoted white ones). They are immediately greeted by a meow and the enthusiastic Myung and Woo. The two pairs warm to each other quickly. This is everything she ever wanted. "Let's introduce you to the rest and then we can eat cake!"

-o-

She goes along the way to the kitchen pointing to the cats as they pass them. She doesn't understand why they look so surprised, like, she had already mentioned she had many cats.

"This sleepy looking fluffy one is Old Man Gyu, he is the first one to come live with me"

"That one, the gray tuxedo, he's Won, he looks a bit grouchy but will come to sit with you when you are working."

"Next to Won, the tortoiseshell is called Sunshine and the calico grooming her is Taichou, Sanshoku-Taichou, I'm not very creative"

"Be careful to not trip over Icing and Frosting they are siamese twins (but not like conjoined twins, siamese like in the cat breed). They like to lay in the way awaiting unsuspecting prey and bring it to the ground."

"If you see something big, fluffy and orange it's probably Yeollie. He's harmless."

They reach the kitchen.

"Shizuka-chan, there's a dead bird on the table."

"… yeah, sorry about that. Riceball brings me presents, you see, and I can't get her to stop leaving them on the table." She picks it up puts it in a container outside to deal with it later, then washes the glass covering the table and her hand with soap. "We can eat in my room if you want."

-o-

They are eating their cake accompanied with milky black tea and happy cats in their laps. Shino is scowling at something in a shelf. It's one of the glass display cases, the one with the… oh. "I'm really sorry, Shino-kun. I'll take them off if you want."

"They, they are- the cat"

"Yeah, she caught them for me, I shouldn't have but she left the wings intact…"

"It's ok. I just won't like that cat."

"I'm sorry. The next time you come I'll take down the butterflies."

"It' ."

"Are the skulls from presents too, Shizuka-chan?"

"Yep, I'll leave them outside so the bugs can eat the flesh. That's what I'll do with the bird." She turns to look at Shino, he looks a bit less angry. "Then I clean them with peroxide so they look white. Aren't they pretty, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes, they are. Is-is that your manga collection?"

-o-

On the way back she gets to introduce them to Namu (sly, slick and glossy black) and Jjong (who has the prettiest long white coat) who complete her tomcat-band, and to Hawk (a regal, serious looking grey tabby) and Bird (tiny, fluttery and fluffy black, Namu's sister) the last two girls, when they found them along the road to the gates.

It was a good ending to a good day

-o-

Looking at her fiends backs after saying their goodbyes she saw the cats staring at a shadow. She quickly averted her eyes, least the shadow notice their attention.

Too good to last.

* * *

Notes:

\- Those are all the cats. Really. I swear.

\- Taisho Sanshoku is the name of the koi fish with calico pattern, mainly white with well-defined red and black markings.

\- The tomcat-band personalities don't actually match exactly what their namesakes, just a bit.

-Next comes the graduation!

\- Final cat counter: 14

Thanks to all of you who read this, I enjoy that you enjoy it (v)


	6. Chapter 6

VI. In which impressions are made.

* * *

Naruto passes the graduation exam without problem and the day the teams are made Shizuka is relieved but not surprised she's placed with him and Sakura in Team 7 under Hatake Kakashi. She was worried Sakura could be placed in another team (both Naruto and herself need to be trained by Kakashi) but in the end is no surprise they are together, it already happened in another life.

When the names of Team 8 are called she smiles at Hinata and Shino, then she can't help herself and glares at Kiba. He better takes care of her friends. They will take care of him.

Then all the remaining teams are called and picked up by their jounin and Team 7 is left waiting.

This is no surprise either.

-o-

Hatake Kakashi doesn't want a team. Especially this team. But he has his orders, so he meets the Hogake in Naruto's apartment.

It's messy and Naruto keeps spoiled milk on his fridge, but it's full of healthy looking plants.

"Naruto is not very smart," says the Hokage. "But he's better with you, and you know how to deal with the type."

That was a hit under the belt.

"And the other two?"

"Sakura-kun's parents are civilians and will receive us for tea later. Why don't we go to Shizuka-kun's apartment in the meanwhile?"

Shizuka's apartment looks clean at first glance but there's a thin layer of dust on all superficies. There's only tea, bottled juice and snacks in the kitchen. In the bedroom's closet there's too small clothing for a girl her age and a well-supplied packed bag.

He looks at the Hokage in concern.

"She doesn't live here."

"No, but she still pays the rent."

"Then, where..?"

The Hokage turns to look at the view from the window. Of course she's living there.

-o-

Kakashi hasn't been in the Uchiha compound in 5 years, the blood was perfectly washed up and you can't see where it was, but there is an eerie feeling in the empty streets, exaggerated by the occasional sensation of being watched.

The outside of the girl's house looks…normal. And it makes more disturbing to see the well-lived home in the middle of a ghost-town.

There are three pairs of slippers at the door and after entering the feeling of being watched intensifies. A huge orange cat hisses at them from his perch on top of a bookcase full of flowery shoujo manga and glass cases displaying rat bones and a rabbit skull.

In the kitchen there are a fridge full of fresh veggies, a tin of homemade cookies on the counter and a dead bird on the table.

She is sleeping in what used to be Itachi's room.

"Shizuka-kun is a bit peculiar" says the Hokage like it doesn't bother him.

Kakashi really really doesn't want this team.

-o-

He likes them less in person. Shizuka has the same pretty face as Itachi's (and Kakashi is almost sure the jumper she's wearing used to be Itachi's too). Naruto would look exactly like his dad if you didn't know his mother. The way Sakura steals looks at Shizuka is like something Rin would do.

Let's get over this quickly.

"We'll begin with introductions, tell me about a bit about yourselves"

"Why don't you do it first, sensei?" asks Sakura. Kakashi sighs.

"uhmmm my name is Hatake Kakashi, I don't want to tell you my likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are…hmm…. And I have a lot of hobbies. Now is the turn of-"

"Mememe! Me first! My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and I like even more when Iruka-sensei pays for it. I dislike the 3 minutes it takes instant ramen to cook. My dream… my dream is to become Hokage so everyone has to acknowledge my existence!...And I guess my hobby is pranks."

He's… quite something.

"I see… well, next"

"Eh, my name is Uchiha Shizuka. I like cake with fruit on it and I don't like octopus. Ehhm I have various hobbies like cooking, reading and playing with my cats. My dream is… not a dream. I desire to bring retribution to the person responsible of the destruction of my clan."

But then why she... Now is not the time.

"Er, yeah. Now the last one"

"My name is Haruno Sakura and I like…" she steals a look at Shizuka, "sweets made with red bean paste and I dislike spicy food. My dream is to…" she glances at Shizuka again but then looks squarely at him, "to become a strong kunoichi like Tsunade-hime!" after that she blushes a little. "My hobby is reading, too."

They may not be what he was expecting… but no! He can't wait to get rid of them!

"That was nice. Now we can pass to the next issue: the exam to determine if you'll become genin…"

-o-

The next day Shizuka easily convinces her team to eat breakfast together before Kakashi-sensei arrives. Even with the warning to no eat Sakura practically jumps to the opportunity, and Naruto has been reluctantly eating and enjoying her cooking for more than a year now.

"You made the tuna and potato croquettes?" is the only thing he asks.

"Yes."

"Then let's eat! Sakura-chan, you will love the croquettes Witchy-zuka makes! "

"How?! How can you have tasted Shizuka-chan's homemade food before?! And I told you to don't call her that!"

After eating they even have enough time to stretch.

-o-

The instructions to the bell test are pretty much as Shizuka remembers from Eli's memories, so when Kakashi-sensei says go, she is ready to snatch Naruto by the back of his collar and tell Sakura to follow her to the trees.

"What was that, Witchy-zuka!?" exclaims Naruto when she releases him in the cover of the woods. "I could have beaten him! I'll go back and you'll see! I'll get the stupid bell before you!"

"He is a jounin, Naruto-kun. He'll squish us without even breaking sweat."

"…You can't do it then, Shizuka-chan? You don't think you can get the bell? If you can't then we-"

"We work together and then we can get the bell."

"But there's only two, Shizuka-chan!"

"There's no way I return to the academy, Witchy-zuka!"

"Then you two keep the bells. I won't get between you and your dreams, remember I don't have one." She looks at then in the eyes. "Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, don't worry and let's plan how to get the fucking bells!" She punches the air with enthusiasm.

"Yeah!" Naruto follows suit.

("You swore, Shizuka-chan– ")

* * *

Notes

-I'm updating because today (or may be yesterday by the time this appears on the list) is Children's Day in my country. Happy Children's Day! :D

-A lot of the dialog (the part in Naruto's apartment and the introductions) is paraphrased from the manga, I'm sorry

(-now that I'm reposting I noticed they only like food. It's Naruto's fault.)

-I'm sorry too for the abrupt ending

\- If you are wondering about Naruto's nickname for Shizuka in Japanese, Its Kimoi-zuka" (gross-zuka)

(-I almost got him to call her Shit-zuka, but he's not that mean)

(-only one cat got mentioned this chapter :( )

Thanks to everybody for reading, and your follows, favourites and reviews! It makes me so happy that people like this fic :DDDD


	7. Chapter 7

VII. In which things are not as they seem.

* * *

"So let's go over the plan again-"

"I go first and try to get a bell!"

"And then it's my turn. If Kakashi-sensei has only one bell, I fight with everything I got. If he still has two…. I- I lose easily…"

"I'm sorry about that, Sakura-chan, but we need him to underestimate you if we want the second part of the plan to work."

"Yeah! But that's in case I lose! I will beat him and then I'm sure you'll get the bell too!"

"That's what we accorded, but if you happened to lose-"

"I know, I know! Then you fight him and keep him busy until me and Sakura-chan arrive to spring the trap!"

"But how will we know where you are, Shizuka-chan?"

"There will be fire, you'll just have to follow the smoke."

-o-

Kakashi sidesteps to avoid the fireball and it impacts the bush behind him. The girl just got a look at him and attacked, so serious.

"You seem to be different than the other two, Shizuka-chan". When she took off with them, it too had seemed that they would be different to the usual teams he tested. Then they went after him alone, what a shame.

"I am, and I gave them a chance to work with me. They were stupid enough to reject it. Good riddance."

"And you seem pretty confident too. Let's see if you can back it, uhm? Come at me."

This time he doesn't bother to move and just blocks the kick with his forearm. There's force behind it but not enough. The takes her ankle with the other hand and throws her away. She hits the floor and doesn't lose time getting to her feet again.

Now is his turn to attack. He throws some stars at her, and expecting her to dodge he uses the body flicker technique to appear at her back. She swings her arm backwards to try to stab him in the kidneys. Before it can connect he's already 2 meters away. She turns and with a growl she throws the kunai at his throat. He catches it between two fingers. Vicious, this one.

He spins the kunai by the loop at the handle.

"That was all?"

Instead of answering she tries another kick, he slashes with the kunai and she bends backwards to avoid the cut. He kicks her away. She stands up again and attacks.

It goes the same other two times. Right now she's panting some meters away, nursing her stomach after receiving a punch. He wanted to make this a lesson in ninjutsu, but is fun to see her persist. Also, there's still a lot of time until noon.

"Maybe you are not so different after all. I'll have to bring out my book to read if you're just goin' to continue like that."

She smiles. A group Narutos springs out of the trees and attack him. Oh, so she was buying time. Interesting.

And there's Sakura at the edge of the clearing looking indecisive. After how easy he knocked her out she must not want to risk another fight. Maybe this one is not ready yet and he'll do her a favour sending her back.

He fight continues for a while. Sometimes the Narutos make a grab for the bells and he just kicks them away, he has already dispelled some, but Naruto hasn't made new ones –maybe his stamina does have a limit-. They mostly just get in each other and Shizuka's way. Like right now, she got distracted avoiding collide with a clone and left open her pretty face to a punch. Let's just end this now…

"Shizuka! Kawarimi no ju-" How bad it doesn't work with humans, never mind so far away. His fist connects to Shizuka jaw. A body impacts his hip. The weight of the bells disappears. What.

One of the Narutos is sprinting to where Sakura used to be. Sakura is at his side clutching a bell. The Naruto is holding the other bell in the air. On the floor, Shizuka spits blood and laughs.

"We win," she says. Her smile is bloody but delighted. "You can dispel it now, guys."

After some of clouds of smoke there is only one Naruto next to him with the bell and Sakura is away with the other. What.

-o-

The thing is that Shizuka didn't expect this convoluted plan to actually work. It consisted in fighting Kakashi alone first, in part to not put all their eggs in the same basket, but mostly to make him underestimate them later and to give chance to Sakura and Naruto to exchange places.

Then, the one who performed the Kawarimi had to be far away enough that Kakashi couldn't believe it to work, Naruto was the only one of the three that would pull it, but Kakashi couldn't have believed him to hesitate to fight. So he used a henge to disguise himself as Sakura.

The signal to attempt the kawarimi was when it looked like Kakashi was about to take Shizuka out of the fight, so it could be credible that Naruto-as-Sakura finally interfered.

That Sakura disguised herself as Naruto was, well, she told them it was because Kakashi would probably notice her if she hided, but would not find anything strange with one Naruto clone between many. But in truth, it was so Sakura could participate more in the plan. As she said before, Shizuka wasn't expecting the plan to work. It didn't need to. After all the point of this test isn't actually to get the bells, they just needed that Kakashi saw them work together. She needs to believe in them more.

"So you did."

"You bet we did! We got the bells! You have to pass us!"

"Very well! But now the tree of us need to discuss some things, so… say goodbye to Shizuka-"

(He had to make this more difficult, doesn't he?)

"No," interrupted Sakura. "Shizuka-chan should have my bell. She was the one to put the plan together." Shizuka really needs to believe more in her team, she was _hoping_ they'd do this; what she should have been was _completely certain._

"Keep it, Sakura-chan. Remember your dream to surpass Tsunade-hime."

"You deserve it more!"

"I don't, it couldn't have worked without you. I planned it so you two could get the bells. I'm ok with it."

"It's not fair, you are the one who got hurt the most."

"You two got hurt t-" Did Naruto just hit her in the head with his bell?

"Keep that bell Witchy-zuka! You already helped me so I could graduate once. I'm not owing you more." She throws the bell back. The two of them are so good, she feels bad of doing this to them.

"Don't be silly, you don't owe me nothing."

Naruto was about to throw the bell at her again when Kakashi clears his throat to catch their attention.

"It seems that the decision should be mine." Kakashi puts an exaggerated pensive pose. "Who should I choose?"

"Them!" yell the three of them at the same time, pointing at the other two.

"Well, in that case my decision is…. All of you pass!"

Naruto and Sakura actually fall to the floor in shock. She loves them already.

* * *

Notes

-I updated because today came out the first mv of Nam WooHyung's solo album.

\- I wrote an action scene! I'm proud of myself!

\- Part of the interchange between Kakashi and Shizuka at the beginning of the fight is paraphrased from the manga, too.

\- I, like Shizuka, wrote the whole henge thing just to make Sakura fight Kakashi. Later Sakura will realise that she actually fought a jounin and won.

-Was it a bit to forced? (yes, it was and I apologise)

\- My word processor keep trying to change bell to ball, I still have the random second person thing and I'm generally bad at proof reading, sorry for that too

(-No cats were in this chapter :()


	8. Chapter 8

VIII. In which foundations are laid.

* * *

Shizuka probes de inside of her mouth with her tongue searching for lose teeth, fortunately it seems they are all OK. The blood comes from a cut in the inside of her cheek and that's almost as awful because those kind of things take forever to heal and sting a lot.

Sakura and Naruto are sitting to the side waiting for Kakashi-sensei to finish poking and prodding to her ribs and jaw because, yeah, he was pulling his punches but better safe than sorry. After her, it's Sakura's turn, then Naruto's even though he insists he's unhurt and that if he were, he heals very fast.

"You can eat your lunch after I make sure made no lasting damage to my cute little students, or the hokage will get cross at me for breaking you this soon."

After he sees that the worst injuries are many bruises and scratches Sakura and Shizuka collected -Naruto is perfectly ok just as he said, and Shizuka tries to look as puzzled about it as Sakura-, Kakashi-sensei hands them 2 convenience store brought lunches.

"I only needed two for the test," he says.

Naruto predictably asks what do their lunch have to do with the test and Kakashi-sensei explains that the objective of it was not to see if they would be able to get the bells, but to see if they could work together as a team even through one of them would have to sacrifice themselves for the other two.

"Are you telling us that we could have passed even if we didn't get the bells?! And that doesn't explain the lunches!"

"The lunches were sort of a second chance for you, guys. Because I'm a very generous person. If you hadn't figured it out by noon, I would have tied one of you to one of these posts, then I would give food to the other two along with the instruction to don't give anything to their teammate on pain of failing, and I would have pretended to go away. If you disobeyed that order you passed the test."

"That's why you told us to skip breakfast!"

"Of course! I had to be sure you'll be hungry so it could be extra cruel to the one who got stuck to the post! "

"But sensei, aren't we supposed to always obey our superiors' orders without question?"

"Ideally, yeah. But by that point I would have already told you that you needed to work as a team to get the bells, and the order I would have given you was unbeneficial to the team" he looks at each of them very seriously to the eyes. "If you keep walking this path, one day you'll have to make tough choices."

He suddenly shunshins to Shizuka and drags her back with a kunai against her neck. Asshole.

"Sakura, I'm an enemy. If you don't kill Naruto, I'll kill Shizuka. What do you do?" Does this even have a point?

"I- I'll - I don't-"

"She tells you that I'm more valuable alive because I have a kekkei genkai and when you run away with your price, they plan my rescue." Kakashi-sensei blinks down at her.

"And isn't this situation against your point?" She adds.

"I was trying to impress on you that you shouldn't even contemplate choosing one over other of your teammates and the harsh reality of our work."

"Well, then I'm offering them an umbrella permission to endanger me a bit if it means the possibility of all three of us surviving at the end."

"You are gonna be a difficult one, don't you?"

"I have no idea what are you talking about." He sighs and lets her go and she goes to reassure her teammates. Shizuka puts her hands lightly on Sakura shoulders.

"He wasn't actually going to do it. And you hear what I said. I trust you to keep us all alive." Maybe that's a bit too much pressure... Nah. She turned to Naruto.

"I trust you. And you should trust us." Naruto still looked a bit shocked but then he gathered himself and boasted:

"I would have definitely rescued you like a damsel in a dress (" in distress, Naruto-kun") and you'd have been all swoony and impressed!"

"And very thankful too"

"You better! ... Enough to get a cake? "

"Enough for cake. In fact, we should get cake after this."

"And ramen!"

"Yes. But later, we are already eating lunch-"

-o-

Kakashi observes his students rope Sakura into their dinner plans and lets himself be the tiniest bit hopeful about this team. He also decides there isn't harm in finishing the lesson he intended to impart them before dismissing them for the afternoon. He pointedly clears his throat.

"Well Shizuka-chan just ruined the carefully arranged dramatic moment, so I'll just finish my piece and then you can go." His three little gennin looks at him, Sakura a bit wary, Naruto a bit annoyed and Shizuka oddly solemn, but it seems to be her default expression when not talking about dessert. He turns to look at the memorial. "'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' My best friend told those words to me, he was a hero and his name is written here along with all those who died in the line of duty."

Now the three of them look solemn, they get it, so he puts on a pose and calls cheerfully:

"That was all! Go and we'll reunite here tomorrow so Team 7 can begin its duties!"

Sakura goes followed by Naruto and trying to ignore his animated chatter. When Shizuka passes him she brushes his side lightly. Instinctively he catches her wrist. She is holding a homemade granola bar and blinking up at him.

"You aren't that good yet," he says and then releases her. He also pats her head lightly before sending her after her teammates. Before going she puts the bar on his hand.

He looks at their tiny retreating backs and bites into the snack. It tastes like understanding.

-o-

Sakura can't believe they passed! She can't believe she is in a team with Shizuka-chan! She can't believe she fought a jounin! She can't… she can't believe she agreed to spend time with Naruto. He just keeps talking and talking! It's very annoying but Shizuka seems to be listening to whatever he's saying. Then again Shizuka has always been kind to him for no reason.

"-maybe we'll even get to save a princess!" Sakura snorts by force of habit, even if rescue a princess does sound very cool.

Naruto deflates a bit. He… cares a lot about her opinion and now she feels a bit guilty.

"Well we are just out of the academy, they'll probably give all the princess saving missions to the jounin," says Sakura trying to fix the situation a bit aaand Naruto goes on how he'll make jounin in no time. Shizuka smiles at her. Score!

-o-

They go for her red bean paste dumplings first and they eat them while walking on the street.

"Next is cake from that fancy store! Witchy-zuka you're paying because it was your idea!" Sakura can't say anything because she's chewing so she just glares at him.

"Actually-"

"No take-back's!

"No- no, I'm paying. Just- I wanted to see if Team 8 passed their test too." Shizuka fidgets a bit after saying that and how can Sakura tell her no? Sakura shallows the dumpling hastily.

"Of course Shizuka-chan! We'll look for them!" Shizuka smiles at her again and Sakura feels herself practically glow in happiness.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." This is the best day ever. "We could go find Team 10 too. You and Ino are such good friends! You should share the news with her." Maybe not.

"Yeah! You should invite everybody to cake, Witchy-zuka!" Naruto doesn't help. She needs to say something quickly before she has to share Shizuka's attention with all their class!

"It would be too expensive for Shizuka-chan! We should go only the three of us and go out with them another day" Or never!

"Well… this was supposed to be our first outing as a team… maybe we should just go for the cake and I'll find time to see Hinata and Shino another day…" And now Shizuka looks sad!

"They are your friends, it's ok!"

-o-

Shizuka probably shouldn't enjoy making Sakura run in circles trying to keep her happy, but she is very cute when she does. It makes Naruto all huffy but that's cute too. She feels like she imagines Kakashi does when he teases them so from now on she will forgive him because it's very fun.

(She is still feeling the remains of that horrible mix of angry and sad she felt at hearing Kakashi say that Obito is his best friend and a hero when he is worse than trash. Kakashi will be getting a lot of snacks as he probably will not appreciate being hugged.)

They have no luck finding the other teams so they end up just the three of them in a café. She buys a whole cake instead of buying slices or individual confections. The girl in the counter looks at them dubiously when she says they'll eat it there but Shizuka knows what she's about. She also orders milky black tea.

"It's such a shame we didn't find Hinata-chan and Shino," says Naruto in between bites. "This is the cake they like, isn't it?"

"More like they know I like it, so they let me choose."

"How does Naruto know that?" Shizuka blinks at Sakura. Didn't she notice before?

"We have a truce!" answers Naruto. "We don't fight at meal times so Hinata-chan and Shino can eat in calm."

"So we ended up inviting him to join us at lunch a lot of the time. He never wanted to train with us, though."

"If I did you'd see my weakness and use them against me!"

"The time we noticed a weakness it worked in your fav-"

"You said you wouldn't talk about it!"

"Uhm yeah, sorry Naruto-kun."

"YOU ARE FRIENDS!?"

"Something like that"/ "Hell no!"

"He says we are rivals" / "We are rivals"

-o-

They ate all the cake, then they went for ramen and after that their separated ways.

Shizuka plays a bit with the end of her braid. Eli used to cut her hair every time she graduated and let it grow again until the next one. After she finished her schooling she did it when she was about to begin new stages of her life. This counted as both and it was a nice tradition to keep. Practical too, as she had to hide her hair inside the back of her shirt while she fought Kakashi, least it temped him to pull.

So before going home she takes a detour to the apartment building to ask the nice landlady for a favour.

-o-

"But it's such a pretty hair, Shizuka-chan~"

"Please just cut it, Obaachan."

"What if I only cut the ends?"

"I can go to a hair salon if you don't want to do it."

"I don't want to ruin it. It has been so long since I last cut my daughter's hair, and this old hands aren't what they-"

"You can sell it afterwards."

"…Short you said?"

* * *

Notes

-I apologise for all typos and other assorted mistakes, I should do better proofreading before posting, shouldn't I?

(-No cats neither in this one :( )


	9. Chapter 9

IX . In which team building happens.

* * *

Sakura wakes up eager to meet her team again and ends up arriving too early. It's a lovely morning so she doesn't mind it much, even less when she recognises Shizuka in the distance, walking in her direction.

She smiles as she nears, ready to greet her.

"Good morning, Shizuka-cha-What happened to your hair?"

"Oh," says Shizuka touching the ends of her hair that now barely reach the bottom of her ears. "I thought it was a good moment for a change. It doesn't look good?"

It _is_ different to her old hairstyle, all held back severely in a long braid. Sakura thought it had made Shizuka appear mature and elegant. And it was such a lovely hair too, Sakura saw it once lose when Shizuka rebraided it after it got messy in a spar, very black and soft looking, a bit wavy after being held in a braid to long, she had wanted to touch it and she had also wanted hair like that so Sakura let her hair grow long… But now with her hair in a short bob cut, a bit fluffy, the ends curving slightly inwards and with some bangs, Shizuka looks a lot gentler, her face softer. Sakura noted Shizuka was wearing her forehead protector like a hairband like Sakura herself was doing. She blushed.

"It looks pretty, Shizuka-chan."

"Thank you, Sakura-chan. I hope you don't mind I copied you a bit," she answers as she sits next to Sakura, smiling. "But it really looks cool like this."

Sakura just blushes more if that's even possible and brings her hands to her head to fuss a little with the forehead protector.

"Really? You think so?"

"Yeah, it looks very good and I wanted to try it too. And now we match!"

They smile at each other and end up falling in a slightly awkward silence. Or awkward on Sakura's side as she doesn't know what else to say (even if she knew what she wanted to say, many things she wanted to know but wasn't sure how to ask, even less when), Shizuka simply looked serene and pleased watching a bee drink water from a little puddle.

In the end the silence was too much.

"Shizuka-chan… I wanted to ask you something."

"Uhmm, what is it?" says Shizuka distractedly.

"Do you like Naruto?" That wasn't was she wanted to ask!

Shizuka turns to look at her quickly and concerned.

"Why everybody asks me that?!"

"Well, it's just that you are always kind to him and you try to approach him even if he says he doesn't like you and is rude to you… so I thought you liked him…"she lowers her voice, "because I know he likes me and…"

"That's how he asks towards you?" Shizuka waits for her to nod and continues: "I don't like him, or not like that. It's just… he kind of reminds me of myself…of how things could have gone for me if things had been different…"

"But you aren't like him at all!" They are like complete opposites, thinks Sakura, and begins to list all the ways Shizuka is way better.

"Well, yeah, we are different in how we act and deal with things but," Shizuka interrupts her looking flustered and embarrassed, "we are both orphans for starters, and… I was very lonely after…after. I was lonely and then I found people who cared about me and that I cared for and I was lucky for it. But Naruto… he has always been alone. He didn't have close friends, he does now, I think, I hope, but… it's an awful way to live and I was lucky."

"But he's so annoying! That's why people doesn't-"

"He wants attention." Now she sounds a bit forceful. "Did you heard what he said when we introduced ourselves? 'I want to be hokage so everybody acknowledges me!' No one pays attention to him so he tries to gain it being loud and disruptive… I used to ignore and be mean to him before, so I think that's why he can't accept so easily when I say I want to be friends, but he likes that I pay attention to him so we are rivals… or at least that's what I think. And I like him as he is, it's cute." Shizuka catches herself, "But not like that! I don't like him like him. I like him as friends! Oh gods this is like the Shoujo Manga Incident all over again…"

Sakura can't help herself and laughs. This is the first time she hears Shizuka talk so much, or so fast, or so flustered. It's very very cute!

"Ok, I believe you Shizuka-chan!" And it's a relief, too. Because if Shizuka doesn't like him maybe she does have a chance! Maybe now is a good opportunity to ask what she had intended to ask and confess! This is it! She is doing to say it!

That's when Naruto arrives.

-o-

Naruto sees her teammates sitting in the floor talking about something that has Shizuka embarrassed and Sakura laughing and decides he needs to know for future teasing.

"Hey!" He greets and startles Sakura who hadn't noticed him approach until he was next to them. "Whatcha talkin' bout?"

"Good morning, Naruto-kun. Why don't you sit with us?" Shizuka smiles up to him a moves a bit to the side so he can sit between the girls. It means he can sit next to Sakura, so he does. Sakura looks a bit pouty when he sits (and she looks so pretty like that) and he catches a brief glance she directs at Shizuka first, but she quietly greets him with a good morning, too. He grins, pleased.

"Sooo, what were you talkin' bout?"

"Uhm, we talked about my new haircut and then we talked about yo-" "GIRL STUFF! We were talking about hair and girly things!"

New hair cut? He observes Shizuka carefully.

"Wow, Witchy-zuka, with your flat chest and your hair short you look even less like a girl!" He gets one of Sakura's love-taps to the back of his head.

"Don't tell Shizuka-chan that kind of things!"

("But is a good cut, isn't it? It looks good, right?")

-o-

Sakura can't believe her teammates. Shizuka was going to tell Naruto to his face that they were talking about him behind his back! And Naruto! He bought attention to the fact that Shizuka hasn't... developed yet (she just need time!). With horror she realises that Shizuka is right and they are actually alike. They are both tactless and, thinking back about the conversation about Naruto, and to the day before when they were in the café and Naruto came back from the restroom telling them about… ack!, they both have a tendency to over-share.

Kakashi-sensei reads porn in public.

Sakura covers her face with her hands and groans. This is gonna be so embarrassing.

 _But_ , another part of her, the part that actually enjoys Naruto's pranks when they are directed to the right target, thinks _that means I don't have to be prim and proper all the time._

She doesn't notice when she begins to crackle and neither she notices the confused, concerned looks her teammates exchange.

-o-

"When is Kakashi-sensei gonna show? This is the right place, isn't it?"

"He arrived late the two last days, is he planning do that every day?"

"We should use time and stretch like we did yesterday."

"Did you bring breakfast today too, Witchy-zuka?"

"Uhm, no. But I packed enough lunch to share… I have some snacks too, if you want."

"Cookies?"

"Dried fruit."

"Will do. Want some, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, thanks."

…

"We should prank him."

"Yeah! What do you have in mind, Sakura-chan?"

"I… dunno, I was hoping you'll think of something."

"I have an idea."

"You do, Witchy-zuka? Let's hear it!"

"Well, when he arrives we…."

-o-

Kakashi arrives three hours late, already savouring his students' outrage… and he finds them stretching. He confusedly watches them act like responsible people for a moment, but quickly recovers. He stealthy approaches them, lounges on a nice three, brings out his book and pretends having been there for a while until one of them spots him. He smirks under his mask and waits for the screaming…

"Good morning Kakashi-sensei!"

"You are just in time! We just finished warming up."

"What should we do next?"

What kind of people are these?!

-o-

Next morning, he cites them an hour earlier and arrives four hours late. Under the three is a thermos with hot coffee with a note that says is for him and his team is actually running laps. They still greet him cheerfully.

-o-

Unnerved he arrives on time the next morning, they aren't surprised, he gets treated to breakfast from the three of them (even from Naruto, even if they are somewhat sloppily done sandwiches) and he decides to actually assign them an appropriate exercise regimen to do while they wait for him because they are apparently actual responsible people. Go figure.

-o-

"It was good while it lasted."

"His face when he saw the coffee was priceless."

"Do we have to keep doing the exercise?"

"It's good for us."

…

"It won't take that much time, thought. We can't stop arriving so early."

"Nah, it's cool. We can keep bringing breakfast, it's nice… But make the croquettes more often."

"Those are for lunch, Naruto-kun."

"Just make them more often Witchy-zuka!"

"Shizuka-chan isn't obligated to cook for you! (…can you bring cookies tomorrow, Shizuka-chan?)"

-o-

The kick sends her flying and without strength to catch her fall, she lands on her back on the grass. Shizuka looks up at the sky, it's very big, very blue and some Narutos fly overhead. She hears Sakura _eep_ and then go _ouch,_ and thinks _why I wasn't reborn in the Pokémon World?_

Kakashi-sensei calls _again,_ and she and her team pick themselves up to get thrown away once more. _Or in the Shire,_ she continues on that thought, _hobbits know what life is about. I wouldn't mind being a hobbit._ Sparring taijutsu only with Kakashi-sensei is the worst.

-o-

Naruto finds himself happy with his lot on life. Sakura is nicer to him and more willing to spend time with him, even if it have to be with wierdo Shizuka too, but he's finding that she is actually fun to be around for longer than lunch. And Kakashi-sensei isn't bad, too. Sure he beats the shit out of them every time they spar and is constantly adding more laps and repetitions to their sets of exercises and drags them to do all those stupid D-ranks…. But he always patches them up after the spars (even if Naruto doesn't need it like the girls, he has noticed he heals way faster than them), and then he actually corrects their form and gives them pointers.

It's good.

-o-

One morning Kakashi arrives two hours late to meet his genin (It is still arriving late even if he's supposed to) and finds a fluffy cat sitting by their packs watching them do crunches. The cat looks at him and he feels inexplicably judged, then it turns back to the genin and ignores Kakashi until they finish their routine.

"Old Man Gyu! What are you doing here?" That's Shizuka's Dessert Voice.

"Is that your cat, Shizuka-chan? It is so cute!" The cat preens at the praise and walks to its owner to be picked up. He hangs from his student arms like a ragdoll (an unimpressed, judgemental, ragdoll).

"He is. He is also a lazy bum that never leaves home. Did you come all the way to see me, Gyu?" The cat twist in her grip so he can climb to his genin shoulders and cutely rub cheeks with her.

Shizuka introduces her cat to the team and he lets himself be pet by Sakura and after a cautious sniff by Naruto (who is by experience hated by most animals), but keeps glaring at Kakashi. Is the dog smell?

"Didn't you have an orange cat, Shizuka-chan?"

"Uhmm yeah, Yeollie. How did you know, sensei?"

"Eh, cat fur on your clothes." The cat glare feels even more judgemental.

"Oh, yeah. It gets everywhere."

The cat remains with them all day, following the team in their errands around the village. Which his student says is a Big Deal because he is just a lazy housecat who never goes out. The cat is mostly unobtrusive and goes for ear-rubs from his genins at the breaks, but mostly ignores Kakashi. Kakashi ignores him back.

When Kakashi dismisses his students in the evening Shizuka carries her cat home and implacable feline eyes watch Kakashi over Shizuka shoulder until they turn a corner.

He shudders. He doesn't want to deal with a cat again. He won't ever let the team get the Tora Mission.

* * *

Notes

-I updated because Lee Howon, better known as Hoya, got an award for his role in the movie "Hiya". I didn't update the ao3 version because I'm not ready for anyone to read that part, it needs so much editing, so. much. editing.

-It's a bit choppy and there are some weird time skips, but I needed to get it out of the way or we'll just get stuck here forever. Sorry, at least is longer than usual.

-Old Man Gyu is back! :D


	10. Chapter 10

X. In which life is full of surprises.

* * *

 _This_ _team is coming up nicely,_ is all that Shizuka can think while they run their laps. Who'll have guessed that the secret to manage Kakashi-sensei is positive reinforcement (because it confuses him when it's directed at him)? Show him you can be a good responsible student that's interested in learning and _bam_ , he becomes an actual teacher. And even a decent one if one is willing to ignore that his previous teaching experiences must have been puppy rearing and ANBU training. All three have improved a lot.

And even better, they have learned to fight as a team. Even Sakura. And that's very important because Shizuka doesn't want Sakura to ever feel like she's been left behind. And it helps a lot to her confidence that Kakashi-sensei wised up –or was given tails- about Naruto's terrible chakra control, Sakura's really awesome one, but poor reserves, and Shizuka's room for improving in both, and now has them doing small chakra exercises. Like making a leaf stick to their forehead, _while_ they do they do other exercises. Sakura totally aces them and has taken to patiently help Naruto when he has trouble. By the time Kakashi-sensei gets to teach them to tree walk, Sakura will be able to climb the whole thing in her first try, Shizuka is sure of it.

(But even with all the improvement, Shizuka can't help but worry about the mission to the Land of Waves. It was such a close call to canon Team 7. What if this is a thing that she'll mess up for not being Sasuke? Or for knowing to much?

And she doesn't know when it will happen because that arc began after a time skip.)

They'll get even stronger and they'll be able to take whatever life throws at them!

-o-

But life apparently throws _them_ into the sewage.

Today's mission (and it will probably be just the one, because it will take them the rest of the day to get rid of the smell) is to find an heirloom ring that some rich person managed to let fall into a sewer.

Now, Shizuka doesn't get grossed up that easily, thanks in part to her bone collecting hobby, and neither does Naruto…. but Sakura looks about to cry when it looks like they have to step into the water to retrieve the ring (that fortunately got visibly stuck on a garbage cluster and thankfully isn't somewhere submerged in pretty much opaque wastewater).

Shizuka and Naruto look each other to the eyes. Naruto is obviously salivating a lot looking at the numbers of times he shallows, and he looks a bit pale. He is about to puke. She isn't that much better, but she's not going to ask him to do it, when she thinks –really, really hopes- she can do it without puking her guts out.

"I'll go." Her teammates look both so relieved. There's no way she's going to hold this against them. This is clearly Kakashi-sensei's fault for not having teach them already to walk on water.

She takes the first step and resolutely doesn't think anything else that isn't keeping her balance, getting the stupid ring and how much she loves her team.

-o-

They get to the surface, the ring secured, and making the effort to touch the less possible her sandals, she takes them off and lets them fall back into the manhole. Wordlessly Naruto takes off his own sandals and hands them to her. Sakura takes out her water bottle and helps Shizuka clean her feet as much as they can before she puts the shoes on.

They don't talk to Kakashi-sensei and he at least has the sense to look a bit guilty.

-o-

Kakashi arrives the next day to meet his team, and his customary thermos of hot coffee is instead full of a block of frozen tea that he's willing to bet is the cheap stuff. So basically they are _letting him eat the cold meal*_. Good thing he came prepared.

"Guys," he calls and they keep doing their exercises. He sighs. "Guys, come here and let's talk."

They come because he somehow got responsible, mature students.

"You been doing good and you deserve a treat." He's not going to actually apologise, or they'll expect he'll do every time he pulls a dick move. "So today we'll ask for a C-rank!" And he has one in mind, it's a nice milk run that gets to the mission desk periodically. Good for letting little genins gain some experience.

Naruto and Sakura look (and sound) really surprised and pleased. Shizuka still has a bit of a frown in her solem expression. But, well, maybe it will take longer to get again in the good graces of someone you literally got ankle deep in shit the day before.

-o-

When they go to request their mission Shizuka is busy half dreading, half hoping to see Tazuna step into the room, so she gets a bit distracted from the procedures until Iruka-sensei protest that they are too fresh form the academy to get a C-rank mission (after being his student for so long, one gets conditioned to pay attention to his voice).

"Relax, Iruka-sensei," says Kakashi-sensei doing placating motions with his hands, and then turns to address the Hokage. "I intended to get the Silk Road one if no-one was assigned to it yet."

Iruka calms instantly and the Hokage makes a thoughtful noise around his pipe while he moves the papers on his desk until he finds the correct scroll.

"I was intending to give it to Saito-kun's team, but the other team is still undecided."

"Isn't he still in the hospital?"

"He is, but it's a good opportunity to ease his genin into work under someone else. I was aiming for an experienced chunin, but if you take the mission instead of another chunin-genin team, I could sent Norimura-kun with them."

"I see… well, Team 7 takes it."

"Very well. I'll summon Norimura-kun to let her know her new orders. The caravan parts in two days. I suggest the two teams meet before that. You are dismissed."

They salute (except Naruto, who waves) and go. Shizuka realises is the first time since she woke up in the hospital that she doesn't know what's supposed to happen next.

-o-

Norimura-kun turns to be one Norimura Momoko, a recently promoted chunin that looks very eager to prove her competency to "Kakashi-sempai".

"This is the first time you are in charge of a team, isn't it? Why don't you lead this mission, Momoko-kun?"

"Yes, sir!"

"It wasn't an order, Momoko-kun."

"I apologise, sir!" The genins that came with her already look longsuffering. Momoko turns red and runs a bashful hand over one of her twin braids, but quickly composes. "I'm just very excited, sempai. And it's my first time leading a team, but I have worked previously with Team Saito."

"Well, then this will be a good experience for you. Why don't you do the mission briefing?"

"Yes, of course!" she says and then looks a bit at a loss. One of the other team's genin nudges her a bit with an elbow.

"We still don't know each other, Momoko-nee"

"Yeah, right! Let's begin with introductions! You must already know, but my name is Norimura Momoko." She says sounding composed again, and then points at each of her team's genin. "And those are Suehisa Hotaru," the one who elbowed her, a boy with brown hair, brown eyes and a sword. "Ikeno Chise," a green-eyed, dark-skinned girl with her blondish hair held back in a non-nonsense bun. "And Sekisaki Gari," a boy wearing more obvious armour than either of his teammates. He has pale, sort of beige-ish eyes and pink hair.

"I know," he comments. "My parents had a sense of humor."

Kakashi-sensei likewise handles their introductions (and when he finishes introducing Sakura, Gari grins at her exclaiming "we are in the same boat!"), and then Momoko explains their mission.

"Every month a caravan goes from Konoha to Yamaguwa -a commercial town north from here- and then back. It's a very safe road, and if they encounter bandits usually the mere presence of shinobi is enough to deter them from attacking. The only reason they request two teams as an escort is the large amount of people and wagons that sometimes travels from Yamaguwa to Konoha." She takes a deep breath and continues. "The expected travel time is two days, three if the cargo is especially heavy, and once we arrive to Yamaguwa we'll get one or two days of down-time before the caravan is ready to travel back. We are to meet the clients tomorrow at 0700 at the gates… How did I do, sempai?"

Kakashi-sensei sighs, apparently he still isn't used to people to look up to him.

"It was a good briefing, Momoko-kun. Now, how do we end it?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. Dissmised!"

Kakashi-sensei nods and begins to walk away, raising a hand in farewell. Team 7 looks unsure at his retreating back, but in the end he calls: "Come on guys, we have things to do."

Shizuka says her goodbyes along Naruto and Sakura, and hurries after her teacher, feeling reassured now that she has some information.

* * *

notes

* 冷や飯を食わせる (Hiyameshi wo kuwaseru) - (lit. Letting them eat cold meal) Giving the cold shoulder.

\- Thanks for reading !


	11. Chapter 11

XI. In which our heroes save the lives of innocent houseplants.

* * *

Naruto feels really excited at the prospect of going on a real mission outside of the village. Because, don't get him wrong, he loves Konoha, but he's never been anywhere else. And he can tell Sakura is very excited too, Shizuka doesn't but she's weird like that.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei. What are we doing? Some last minute training?"

"Eh, not quite. We are gonna get your bags and I'll see how well you pack for extended missions."

Naruto blinks and realises they'll been walking in direction to Sakura's house. He can feel her radiating displeasure next to him, he doesn't like either the idea of Kakashi-sensei going through his stuff.

They arrive Sakura's house and when she's half way into the door, she tells them to wait there at the same time her mom tells her to invite them in.

"It's good to see you again, Haruno-san," says Kakashi-sensei and Sakura turns to look horrified at him.

"You know my mother?!"

"Well, of course, Sakura-chan. Your parents had me for tea the very same day you got assigned as my team."

"Likewise, Hatake-san. I hope my daughter has been behaving."

"She and her teammates… certainly have a good work ethic."

"That's good to hear," Sakura's mother says and then turns to look at Naruto and Shizuka. He feels shy, all for sudden. "And you must be the famous Naruto-kun and Shizuka-chan. It's nice to have faces to go along with the names." She sends a quick look at Sakura, who flinches, and then turns her attention back to them. "Nice to meet you, I'm Haruno Mebuki."

Shizuka bows, and Naruto hurries to copy her.

"Nice to meet you, Haruno-san."

They get led to a sitting room and are offered glasses of chilled juice ("I'll get you some tea but this girl will probably have kittens if I took the time to make it.") and are told to make themselves at home.

Sakura is ready to go again in record time.

"What did you talked about?"

"Nothing about you, Sakura-chan." It's the truth, but Mebuki's tone is so unconvincing innocent.

"Mom! What did you tell them?!"

"Nothing, dear. Do you think me, your loving mother, capable of telling your friends embarrassing histories about you?"

"Yes!"

Naruto is in awe.

-o-

Unfortunately, his house is next and he can't remember if he left his underwear where the girls can see it or not, and Sakura insist that they are coming in because they went into her house.

He opens the door and awkwardly tells them to wait.

"And I'm not sure if I have something to offer you to drink, but I if you wanna you are free to check the fridge."

Then he goes to his room and tries to remember what he is supposed to pack.

-o-

Sakura is surprised by the size of Naruto apartment (not that she'll ever tell him). She had always imagined it as one of those with one room and everything on it, but his kitchen it's about the same as the size one in her house.

She is also impressed by the number of plants, and recognises one as a bigger version of the one he got Kakashi-sensei one day. Shizuka is also eyeing then thoughtfully.

"Naruto," calls Shizuka in a voice that should carry to his bedroom. "Will your plants be ok with you gone for a week?"

Sakura hears something that sounds a lot like "shit" coming from Naruto's bedroom, but she doesn't blame him because it didn't occur to her either.

Naruto comes back carrying his pack.

"I think I'll ask Iruka-sensei to come water them. What will you do about your cats?"

"I don't know. Yesterday I asked my landlady and she said she would be "otherwise occupied" the whole month… maybe Hinata and Shino could go and feed them? My cats are very independent anyway."

"And you Kakashi-sensei? You aren't gonna let Ukki-kun die while you are away, aren't you?"

"I'm going to use the old yarn trick. You place a glass of water a bit higher than the plants and…"

Kakashi-sensei gives them some counsels for making sure your house will be as you left it when you come back from missions… but Sakura doesn't need them. She has a pet fish but she trusts her mom to feed him and keep his tank clean. If her fridge goes off her parents will be there to see nothing spoils. They'll make sure the stove isn't left on. They'll be waiting for her when she comes back.

When Naruto comes back he will be greeted by dirty dishes covered in mould unless Iruka-sensei has time to wash them.

So she washes them.

-o-

Next stop is Shizuka's. In the Academy one of the girls said that Shizuka lived in an apartment near her clan's compound but they all knew better than go see if it was true (now Sakura knows that if she had asked her directly, Shizuka would have even told her how much is her rent and any plumbing problems she has had), but she still liked to imagine the place where Shizuka lived (sometimes where they lived together). It would be open and airy, with modern and stylish furniture, and certainly not painted beige like her parents' house.

They stop in front of a nice looking building, and Sakura had time to add a balcony to her dream apartment before Shizuka begins to walk again. She leads them to a gate blocked by faded yellow barricade tape. She ducks under it and Kakashi-sensei follows. Sakura remains outside with Naruto, both pretty much horrified.

"That's where her family-"/ "Does she still lives-"

"You aren't coming?" asks Shizuka some steps into the empty street. Sakura looks at Naruto, Naruto looks back, and they cross the gate.

-o-

Kakashi falls back and lets his student lead the way to her house. Unlike last time he was here, the streets feel completely empty, no unseen eyes staring at the back of his neck. The house looks pretty much the same.

At the genkan Shizuka takes of her shoes and steps barefoot into the house proper.

"I don't have enough slippers," she explains and Kakashi ends up wearing a pair of purple slippers a bit too small.

Suddenly they are ambushed by a terrible beast and it is on his student before he's able to do anything to save her from her fluffy demise.

"Myung!" His student exclaims between giggles as she is brutally cuddled. It's too late to save her. "Guys, this is Myung. Myung, this is my team." Naruto and Sakura foolishly approaches the beast to rub its ears.

"So you have three cats, Shizuka-chan?"

"Uhmm last count they were 14."

"FOURTEEN!"

"Uhmm yeah. They come and go, but they like to be here for visitors, so maybe you get to meet them all." That was a Dessert Voice plus Dessert Face combo, he can almost see the sparkles in the background. "Oh, and be careful where you step, two of them like to trip people. And if you see a fast moving orange blur in the corner of your eye, don't worry that's Yeollie and he's a total cutie." That thing was probably one of the tigers that roam the Forest of Death.

She is definitely way, way past any kind of help.

-o-

Naruto is thinking that Shizuka really is a witch.

Before going for her own pack with Myung draped around her neck like a living scarf, Shizuka had served them a plate of cookies, offered them some cold barley tea, told them to make themselves at home, and left them in the kitchen under the watchful gaze of Riceball, who was at the moment cleaning blood from her otherwise pristine white fur. Kakashi-sensei almost immediately snatched some cookies and stepped out to the back garden. In the end Naruto and Sakura couldn't help themselves and went to explore.

In one of the rooms the walls had shelves full of bones, so they got out of there quickly. In the next one they found books and manga, and Old Man Gyu sleeping with other two cats in the sun. They decided to don't risk it and remained there.

-o-

Shizuka comes back to the kitchen and finds it empty. The door to the garden is open so she steps out.

She finds Kakashi-sensei in a staring contest with Riceball, so she decides to save his remaining original eye by scoping her cat up. You can't win against Riceball. He glares, she isn't sure if it's at her or at the cat. Then he turns to look at the garden, in direction to the upturned plastic containers that prevent bigger animals –not that the cats leave much of those- from taking the carcasses before the bugs finish their job.

"For the bones?"

"Yeah."

"The cats work?"

"Just hers, but yeah."

"You don't have to keep them all, you know."

"That's how she shows her love, and it would be wasteful to throw them away. And I like the bones, they are pretty."

They watch the garden in silence. Shizuka pets Riceball until she purrs. Kakashi-sensei suddenly turns to look down at her, pinning her in place like he was looking at her with the sharingan instead of his own eye.

"Why do you live here, Shizuka?"

"It's my house, sensei. I hold to the good memories by letting it stay my home."

"You sleep in his room. That jumper was his, isn't it?"

"I…I want to hold to the good memories."

"By letting him stay your brother? You'll get hurt, Shizuka."

"The man responsible of the massacre of my clan isn't my brother."

"I see." He doesn't, not as she means it, and he pats her head, reassured as it was her intention. "Let's go find your teammates before the beasts that live in your house find them first."

"They are perfectly harmless kittens, sensei!"

-o-

They find her teammates sitting on the floor side to side, reading manga. Taichou is draped over Naruto's head and Sunshine is sleeping on his lap. Gyu is sleeping next to Sakura where he can be easily pet.

"We arrived too late," says Kakashi sensei and it alerts Sakura of their presence.

"Naruto hasn't read Lovely Guardian Samurai Moon before!" That's awful and needs to be corrected. No one should be keep from enjoying Lovely Guardian Samurai Moon.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. I'll lend them to you."

"Isn't it for civilian girls?" says Kakashi-sensei.

"And it inspires them to become strong kunoichi, sensei!" fervently explains Sakura. "You see ninja being so casually powerful, and you hear the stories of their exploits and you think you will never be like them because you are only a little civilian girl that's weak and has nothing special! But Usagi-chan also thought she was a weak cry-baby civilian and she ended up becoming the brave and powerful Samurai Moon!"

"And it's about trusting in your friends and your friends trusting in you, sensei."

"Yeah! And it has romance and cool fights and pretty outfits!"

Kakashi-sensei makes a placating gesture with his hands.

"I get it, girls. No underestimating the shoujo manga."

Naruto just keep reading through the commotion.

* * *

Notes

-I didn't update before because I was disappointed in myself... for reasons, but I got a job interview tomorrow so I'm feeling pretty great right now (depending on how it goes I may be a now or never situation for this fic!P:).

-Also, a list of some cool things that happened since I last updated: Homestuck album vol. 10, Myungsoo sang in a tv show dressed as Capitain Phasma and showed off his cool nunchakus skills, after 11 months ININITE at least released the dance practice video of their song "Bad" (for which I made a cover in Spanish that then I showed off to everybody and it pretty much consumed all my self-confidence for a while) and there's news they are filming another mv, EXO's song "Monster"

-I never actually saw the chapters where Sakura's parents appear, this Mebuki is her own Mebuki.

-Old Man Gyu only made a brief cameo in this one but the other cats got a bit of screen time!

\- Thanks to everybody for your support! (v)


	12. Chapter 12

XII . In which ninja are a gossipy bunch.

* * *

Team 7 reunites at the gates at 6am, all three carrying expertly packed bags with their supplies evenly distributed between them. They do trust Kakashi-sensei to be professional and arrive on time, but just to be sure they convince him they have to be an hour early to… get breakfast together, yeah, that. Sensei, by now it's like tradition for the team, so at 6, not at 7. There'll be coffee.

And Kakashi-sensei actually arrives at quarter to seven, so as an incentive they make a big deal about how they were supposed to meet forty-five minutes before. He better hurries to eat the nice homemade food they reluctantly saved for him, his coffee is probably lukewarm by now anyways. And then they all fail at don't feeling dirty for using tsundere methods on him.

Team Momoko arrives at 7 sharp followed five minutes later by Dankishi-san, the caravan leader, who after introducing himself gets the ninja into helping load the carts as the people traveling to Yamaguwa arrives. It's a small group comprising a young married couple, two merchants from the Land of Tea and…

"Obaachan?"

"Oh, Shizuka-chan. Why didn't you tell me you'll be escorting us? Here, take my luggage. This old body should be carrying such heavy things." The old lady drops her stuff on Shizuka arms, and with some sort of esoteric old lady power manages to snatch Gari by the elbow as he passes, much to his team amusement. "This young man can help me get on the wagon."

"Who is that person, Shizuka-chan?"

"My old landlady. I suspect she's a retired shinobi, but I have no way to prove it and she says that's nonsense."

"I now see why you live in your family's house."

"Yeah, (and I'll be able to stop paying rent for the apartment one day.)"

"What?"

"Nothing."

-o-

One would think that a single team should be enough to guard 6 people and 2 wagons if they aren't supposed to encounter danger.

"On the way back we may be escorting up to 30 people," explains Chise while the five genin –Gari is still held hostage by Shizuka's landlady- walk behind the caravan. Momoko and Kakashi are on point, talking. "With only a team as guards the civilians would feel insecure and the occasional bandits overconfident, so they hire two. And thanks to that Dankishi-san can boast that his caravan has never experienced mayor problems, charge relatively high fares that are still less expensive than a C-rank, and get enough clients that he gains back his inversion with a lot of revenue. And that's just for the people, he also moves cargo."

"You know a lot about this caravan, Chise-sempai." Shizuka still feels a bit out of sorts about being doing something so different from canon, and as such is very grateful for the info dump.

"Well, we were a bit curious about it too, so we asked Saito-sensei. He told us that details on this mission are common knowledge among the career genin and higher ranks because it's a regular one."

"He also told us that this is what they call a milk run: a mission that can't be a D-rank just because it's outside of the village," chimes in Gari who has just managed to escape Shizuka's landlady.

"Kakashi-sensei promised us a C-rank!" complains Naruto.

"Well, you are some of this cycle's graduated, aren't you? Saito-sensei had us doing D-ranks for longer and our first C-rank was inside the village-"

"Chise-tan, that was because Saito-sensei wasn't gonna risk little Hotaru's life in some dangerous mission! I'm sure normal teams get to see more action." Hotaru punches Gari in the arm.

"Gari, cut that out!"

"Gari-chan our team is perfectly normal!"

"You have to admit that our team is at least somewhat incesty- ouch, Hotaru pull your punches a bit!"

"Gari-chan! Not in front of our kouhai."

"What! It's true! Hotaru's uncle and Saito-sensei where in the same team and practically married, and they replaced him with Hotaru's sist- stop hitting me!"

"Then stop being a jerk! And she's my cousin!"

"Same difference. So you are basically Saito-sensei's kid- Chise-tan! Tell Hotaru to stop hitting me!"

"Not until you apologise, you jerk."

"That was not cool, Gari."

"… I went too far, didn't I? I'm sorry Hotaru."

"It's ok. Just don't do it again."

"Thanks, bro. I'm sorry, really."

Sheepish, Chise turns to Shizuka and her teammates.

"So… did you get the Tora mission yet?

-o-

Gossiping and complaining about authority figures are favourite activities of teenagers, especially ninja ones, so Shizuka and her team get a bit of context for Team Saito's drama. They are two years older than Team 7 and have been more or less coddled by their sensei, a fact that Gari likes to attribute to Saito-sensei's relationship with Hotaru's uncle and that is a sore point to Hotaru because is somewhat true.

"We understand that he wouldn't want to nominate us for the chunin exams two years ago. Most jounin hold their genin from them for at least a year, but then he keep us from participating in the next ones too. Even if we were unlikely to pass, almost no one gets a promotion on their first try, we'd had the experience."

"And I know that he wanted to talk Momoko-nee into dropping from the exam the first time she took it until my aunt got wind of it and shoot him down."

Shizuka, who knows that canon Kakashi-sensei not only nominated his rookie team to the chunin exams 4 months after they graduated, but before that had allowed them to continue on a mislabelled mission, decides to keep her mouth shut and don't add salt to the wound.

Fortunately, Naruto, who is almost physically incapable of prudence, doesn't know canon Kakashi-sensei and groans dramatically.

"I'm sure Sensei will be like that too, he still doesn't even teaches us cool ninja stuff. He just have us do the same boring chakra exercises again and again."

"And he always choses the most tedious missions."

"And… uhm he never makes the effort to wash the thermos after he finishes his coffee." He actually seems to be a more attentive teacher than his canon counterpart, so Shizuka is not going to complain about his teaching.

"Boring. Eh, Naruto-kun?" Because Shizuka was desensitised to sudden appearances by her cats, she jumped half a meter less high than her teammates when they heard Kakashi-sense's voice coming from behind their backs. "And tedious. And I don't seem to make the effort. Uhm? Very well, I see I'll need to step up your training."

"Really?" Apparently Naruto is also incapable of perceiving an ominous approaching menace.

"Of course Naruto-kun. But it will have to wait until the caravan stops. In the meanwhile… SAKURA!

"Eep! Yessir!"

"You'll be running ahead to scout, you can take Sekisaki-kun with you. Naruto-kun and Shizuka-chan will be following the caravan by the branches, each one side of the road."

"But Sensei! We still don't know how tree walk!"

"Well, then you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. So, GO!"

"Yessir!"

-o-

The caravan stops for a late lunch and Kakashi-sensei calls them back. It's a brief pause so fortunately for the genin, but unfortunately for the more handsome of the two merchants from Tea, Shizuka's landlady doesn't have time to exchange her hostage for a younger one. Shizuka doesn't know how Hotaru has so far avoided her.

When they begin to move again Kakashi-sensei sends Hotaru and Chise replace Naruto and Sakura (they know tree walking and have an easier time for it) at the flanks of the rearguard, and goes himself in the scouting position.

Sakura and Gari are about as winded as Shizuka (Naruto doesn't tire very fast and when he does he recuperates quickly). Kakashi-sensei had them fall back to report at intervals of time just to send them running ahead again, so they practically ran laps all morning. They walk along Momoko, who is too star-struck to be sympathetic.

"If sempai says so, it must be good for you, guys."

"And since when do you take jounin so seriously, Momoko-nee? Also weren't you supposed to lead or something?" Asks Gari eyeing her suspiciously. "Do you have a crush on him? Do we have to tell Souji-san to tell Haruko-san to have a talk with him?"

"OfcourseIdon't. And please don't involve my uncle or, sage forbids, my mother on this." Momoko is apparently a lot more composed when not in the presence of (in)famous people. "It's just. Kakashi-sempai is famous. He was promoted to chunin like at 6. And I once saw a bingo book mom got from a Kiri ninja that says to approach him with caution. _They warn shinobi from the Bloody Mist about him._ How cool is that?"

"Kakashi-sensei is famous?" Chorus Naruto and Sakura.

"Yeah, he's the famous Copy-ninja that knows a thousand jutsu he learned from his opponents!" Momoko turns to Shizuka. "You don't seem that surprised? You knew of him?"

"Uhmm, well," Shizuka tries to look as much uncomfortable as she cans so no one asks her and she doesn't accidentally reveals to much of his backstory. "He's Sharingan Kakashi."

"Oh, yeah." Momoko looks a bit uncomfortable herself, eyeing the Uchiwa embroidered in Shizuka's sleeve. Success. "You should know."

"Witchy-zuka! You knew he was famous and didn't tell us?" Before Shizuka has the need to think of a response, because her plan failed as it didn't account for Naruto, something she should already know better to do, he steamrolls past to another question. "And what's that sharingan thing?"

"She is on your team and you don't know? Do you know your team at all?"

"Gari-kun!" Momoko apologetically drags him away to let Team 7 have their own drama in private.

"Uhmm the sharingan is my clan's kekkei genkai." Sakura seems to comprehend quickly why Momoko backed up so quickly. And Kakashi probably wouldn't mind to much having his students know just this bit of his tragic past. "It's in our eyes and when we activate it lets us do some cool stuff, though the Hyuuga's byakugan is cooler." Because it doesn't needs terrible scarring trauma to be activated. "I haven't activate it yet." Which is weird because Sasuke did. "And I almost don't wanna because it's heavy on our bodies." And psyche.

"But Kakashi-sensei isn't from your clan, is he?"

"No, he isn't."

"Then his eyes ("just one"), then his eye is… is…"

"Yeah, from a friend who must have cared about him a lot." Shizuka doesn't care much about Obito, but Kakashi does so she isn't badmouthing him.

"That's… that's…"

"Just don't think about it too much."

"That's why he was assigned as your sensei, Shizuka-chan?"

"Most probably, Sakura-chan. But I'm glad to be here in this team with you two and him."

-o-

In the evening, Momoko, remembering she's supposed to be leading this mission, reluctantly at first, but then more firmly when she sees Kakashi-sensei's approval, orders the caravan to stop for the night when they pass a good spot for the camp. After every traveller is set, the fire is smokeless-ly burning, and the horses are tended to, Kakashi-sensei further rewards Momoko by asking her permission to take his team a bit away for training.

"O-of course sempai! My team and I can guard the camp in your absence!"

"I will only be gone for a couple minutes and I'm just taking them a bit further away into the woods, Momoko-kun."

"We won't disappoint you, senpai!

-o-

The instructions for the tree climbing exercise are just as Shizuka remembers from Eli's memories. Just as she predicted, Sakura gets it at the first try and manages to get to the crown without much problem. It's harder for Shizuka and Naruto, though, so Kakashi-sensei and Sakura settle at the base of a tree to watch them slowly make progress.

Thanks to the fact they been doing chakra control exercises like crazy for months it doesn't take them as long as it did in the manga and get back to the camp with enough time for a late dinner.

-o-

The next day they show an impressed Team Momoko the fruits of their training and for the second day of the journey the genin are more evenly rotated between the guard positions.

In the evening the caravan is close enough to the town they chose to don't stop for the night and the ninja fall closer to the wagons to guide them in the dark.

Then they arrive at Yamaguwa.

* * *

These notes are super huge and I apologise beforehand.

\- Good news! I got the job!

\- Bad news, I won't get much writing time, but I'll try, don't worry.

\- The only reason Kakashi didn't keep them running all day it's because I needed them to have that conversation :P

\- Tragic backstories are keep inside the team, people. Shizuka is only comfortable oversharing with people she loves.

\- There are no cars in the ninja world (or at least in this ninja world), so horses. I mean, they could go entirely on feet or have manpowered vehicles, but I like horses.

-Oh, and I'm going with the following time line/calendar thing: The graduation from the academy is in the last days of March and the new cycle starts in April (like in Japanese schools), the chunin exams are held on January and July. Right now they are in a nebulous time between May and June.

-Aaaaand Some mini-bios for Team Momoko/Saito:

Norimura Momoko. A 17 years old chunin. She was promoted in the exams just before our heroes' graduation. Her mom, Norimura Haruko, is a scary jounin and there's no father on the picture, Norimura is her maiden name.

Suehisa Hotaru. A 14 years old genin. His family life is complicated: His dad, Suehisa Keisuke, was in the same team as his uncle, Norimura Souji, and his sensei. His mom, Norimura Hikari, died in the Kyuubi Attack and his dad committed suicide by mission a bit later, so he was raised by his uncle and Saito.

Sekisaki Gari. A 14 years old genin. His parents where civilians that died in the Kyuubi Attack, and he meet Chise at the orphanage. He has a sister 5 years older, Ume, that became his guardian as soon as she graduated from the academy... at twelve. That wasn't that good for him because he ended up spending a lot of time alone at home.

Ikeno Chise. A 15 years old genin. Both her parents were chunin and also died at the attack. She meet Gari at the orphanage and after they graduated she moved in with the Sekisaki siblings but goes back to play with the younger children in her free time.

Takagi Saito. A jounin. He and Souji were dancing around each other for years until Hikari and Keisuke died. Then they began to be in an on-off relationship that exasperates everybody that knows them. He got hurt in a solo mission and is currently hospitalised. He is an overprotective mother hen because he lost his first genin team in a c-rank gone wrong years back; no one in Team Momoko knows.


	13. Chapter 13

XIII. In which clothes don't make the ninja.

* * *

Shizuka wakes up puzzled as for why there are no insistent cats demanding breakfast, then she opens her eyes and sees… pink hair. Right, there are no cats because she is sharing a small inn room with her team.

They arrived last night, and after securing cargo, helping sleepy civilians with their luggage, putting away wagons, tending to horses and who would have known that being shinobi involved so many horses?, even if Dankishi-san did most of that part, Kakashi-sensei insisted they knew how it was done, Team Momoko seemed to agree, so there'll probably be more horses in her future, not that horses are a bad thing and… Ehm, after making sure that the travellers, their stuff and their transport where put away safely, the ninja were taken to two small rooms for their use in the inn Dankishi-san's family conveniently owns, and were given a day off while the group that would travel back to Konoha in the caravan got ready.

Each team took a room, and in theirs, three futons were arranged a bit to a side for Shizuka, Sakura and Naruto, and one slightly further away from them and slightly closer to the door for Kakashi-sensei.

Shizuka sits up, finger combing her hair so it doesn't stick up like Sasuke's, and looks around. Sakura is still sleeping with her back to Shizuka and her hair spilling out of the futon, Naruto is also sleeping but Kakashi-sensei is already up. He somehow (probably with chakra) managed to sit with his book on the thin windowsill of the only tiny window in the room.

"Good morning, Shizuka-chan."

"Good morning, Sensei."

"When your teammates wake we'll go for breakfast and then you can go explore."

"Ok. What time is it?"

"Half past eight." Shizuka blinks. That's quite late even if in another life she wouldn't think so. "You did well in the journey here, but the way back is gonna be a bit more difficult. You won't always get the chance to rest in a mission, so you gotta do it when you can."

Shizuka thanks him and he waves it off. Smiling faintly, she finishes getting ready for the day, which means that she puts her jumper and forehead protector back on, and goes to the small shared washroom at the end of the hall to use the toilet, and wash her face and teeth. One of the things she is doing after breakfast is searching a bath house. When she gets back to the room her teammates are still asleep.

She folds back her futon, and absent minded she fiddles with her gear and the contents of her pack, out of nothing else to do. At home there's always something to do. The cats need attention. The house always needs cleaning. She cooks and bakes all the time. Shopping needs to be done regularly. There used to be the academy and schoolwork. Now there are missions and team training. And her own training, and her bone collecting hobby, and manga if she still has time.

Being idle is something for moments with her friends and her team. From before That Night. Of Eli's life.

"You can go in civvies today, we aren't actually on duty right now." Says Kakashi-sensei without taking his attention from his book. "We packed them, remember? Just hide some weapons on you and you'll be fine."

They actually did. They prepared a scroll with simple civilian clothing sealed in it to carry with their other equipment in case they ever needed a disguise. This is not what they intended it for but if Kakashi is giving them this small vacation, why not?

She unseals the bundle of clothing and goes back to the washroom to change.

-o-

When Sakura wakes up the first thing she sees is Shizuka in a dress and for a moment thinks she is still dreaming, but Naruto is snoring in the background so she has to be awake. Both Shizuka and Kakashi-sensei say good morning. But she's still too sleep and Shizuka is wearing a dress.

"You are wearing a dress." It's deep rose with a line A cut, ¾ sleeves and it closes with buttons. The buttons are little cat heads. Sakura hopes that they think she's flushed from sleep because it's the first time in years she sees Shizuka wear something over the knee without leggings underneath and back then they were little girls. "Uuhm, good morning."

"Sensei said it's ok because we are off duty; we just have to arm ourselves. After breakfast we are free until dinner."

"Ok." She manages to say, takes out her own clothing from her pack and goes to the washroom to compose herself. She promises to don't ever tease Momoko about her own crush.

-o-

Sakura comes back dressed in her own civvies (a cream coloured cardigan over an emerald green dress that she thinks are going to match very well with Shizuka's outfit. Maybe they can even make it a date!), and finds Shizuka standing in the hallway in front of their room's door.

"Naruto is changing inside," she explains. And Sakura had momentarily forgotten about him, she will have to have her date another day. Surprisingly it's very fun going out the three of them as a team. Maybe this time they can convince Kakashi-sensei to go with them.

"Sakura-chan…" asks Shizuka a bit tentatively after a moment. She is playing with her fingers in a way that Sakura had seen before in Hinata. She looks so pretty. "Can I do your hair?"

May be Sakura has just swooned a little bit. Just a little bit.

-o-

Unsurprisingly Naruto is wearing orange. His own outfit is just a long-sleeved orange shirt over dark brown shorts. It makes him look more foxy that usual.

What is surprising is that Kakashi-sensei is also out of uniform, even if he looks practically the same, just without the most obvious ninja parts and with a medical eye-patch, a medical face-mask to cover his face and a scarf. With his usual slouch he looks like someone coming out of a nasty flu.

"Are you coming with us, sensei?"

"Just for breakfast. As I told Shizuka-chan before, you can go explore afterwards. Just return an hour before dinner and we'll go to the bath house."

Shizuka and her teammates celebrate that, apparently she wasn't the only one wanting to bath.

-o-

They go downstairs for breakfast and eat with the guests instead of the kitchen as Shizuka was expecting. They been hired to do a job, after all. Kakashi-sensei notices her confusion and smiles.

"I do have a little mission for you." The vacation was too good to be true. "Today you'll try to act as civilian children, ok? Let's see how much people are surprised tomorrow to see you as their guards."

So, is this training? But it seems to appeal Naruto and Sakura's mischievous side, and Shizuka has more than twenty years of experience being a civilian girl. So yeah! Let's play!

* * *

Notes

\- It's 1am and I have to go to work tomorrow morning, but you get a second update tonight thanks to the fact I noticed that _INFINITE "That Summer (Second Story)" Official MV_ was released a day ago, and it goes with the mood of this chapter. You should go watch it on youtube (search it like the thing in italics, it should be the first result, it's in korean) as a thanks to them P:

-It's on the short side, and a filler too, sorry

-Also, is Sakura a bit young to be noticing people's legs? She's 13 and I really don't know.

-I told you this was self-indulgent, what's more self-indulgent than our heroes in alternate outfits?


	14. Chapter 14

XIV. In which deceitful things happen

* * *

Sakura, Naruto and Shizuka's whole family is gradually moving to a town near the Capital, so they were sent with Kakashi-nii to meet with the relatives who are already settled. Today he is busy, but the children are very excited to _see_ the town because when they arrived last night they were half asleep (absolutely none of them had to be carried inside! no one!) and it was dark, and it's also their first time in a town like Yamagura. They are big now, and they'll be carefull, so Kakashi-nii lets himself be convinced to let them go on their own.

Outside is full of people, and stalls, and things. People buying and selling, and announcing and bargaining. And trees. Many, many mulberry trees, thought only the ones far from the main road have fruit on them.

So they don't get separated in the multitude, Sakura, who also knows that her brother will run ahead to look at something cool, and her cousin will fall behind distracted by something cute, takes each by the hand and drags them to find something sweet to eat.

They pass stalls selling jewellery, and pottery, and wood carvings (she covers her brother eyes when they pass these), and one hundred other things, but mostly they pass stalls selling all kind of clothing or entire bolts of fabric. Then past all the finery they go through herbs and spices and dyes. And finally they begin to smell the food.

They see from familiar Yakitori to more exotic (and weird) things like fried silkworms. Sakura has to steer Naruto away from a ramen stall because they just ate breakfast and to promise Shizuka to come back for crêpes in the afternoon, but she manages to find a taiyaki stall and she even buys one for each with her own pocket money.

They sit to eat their treat in the shade of yet another mulberry and Naruto complains because they didn't really saw anything, just the main streets! They should explore!

-o-

Shirushi is lost and Tatsuko is going to scold her when she finds her again. It's just that Yamaguwa is very different from home, well, it's the people what's different. Back home there are mulberries, silkworms and silk everywhere too, but there isn't as much people. Shirushi knows everybody back home, or at least she though so… At least nobody is following her, and she hasn't found any seedy characters on her way back to Tatsuko, and maybe she can get to the inn again and tell Tatsuko she's been waiting there all this time…

A bit ahead there are three children arguing about something. Shirushi thinks one of them was in the inn at breakfast (the girl has very distinctive pink hair), and maybe they are lost too, because there is no adult with them; in busy towns like Yamaguwa children must be always accompanied by adults, right?

"Are you lost?" She asks and she must have spooked them something awful because the boy turns violently in her direction and the girl in the pink dress instantly clings to the back of his shirt to hide her face on his back, the poor shy thing. When the children see her they relax.

"No, we are not," says the boy, but he sounds a bit sheepish, so maybe they are and he just doesn't want to admit it. "We are just esc-exploring."

"Without supervision? Isn't it dangerous?"

"We can take care of ourselves!" boasts the boy, puffing his chest, at the same time the girl with the pink hair says. "We have permission."

"We should go back" says the girl in the pink dress. "It's almost time."

The two other children look at each other, then at Shirushi.

"You were in the inn at breakfast," says the girl with the pink dress and Shirushi nods surprised (and a bit unnerved) at being recognised because she has (fortunately) very common and forgettable looks. "Are _you_ lost? Because we are a bit far from the main street and the ateliers."

Shirushi doesn't really want to admit to children that she, an adult by law, got lost when they are apparently very sure of where they are, but she doesn't want to worry Tetsuko even more.

"Yes." She answers, dejected.

"Don't worry, miss! We'll escort you to the inn!" says the boy making a pose, and Shirushi giggles.

(In the back of her mind a voice –that sounds suspiciously like Tetsuko's- tells her that she shouldn't trust people that easily and she rubs at the bruises hidden under her sleeve. But they are children, children aren't dangerous.)

-o-

All the way back to the inn Naruto, the boy, tells her stories about what they did while they were exploring the town. Her favourite is when he got Shizuka, the girl in the pink dress, to taste the fried silkworms with him and then to help him convince Sakura, the girl with the pink hair, to taste them too.

He is complaining about how Sakura wouldn't let him eat ramen even when she allowed Shizuka to drag them into a café when they arrive at the inn. At the entrance there is a tired looking man talking with a team of ninja. Even if they don't look very menacing, and are about her age and younger, Shirushi is a bit wary of them. Unfortunately, they are a necessary evil for her journey and the only way to reach the capital from the north is going to Konoha first.

The children go to the tired looking man. When he sees them the man pins them down with a look.

"Why have I just heard that some blond boy followed by a pair of girls took a bite from a decorative artisanal soap and then ran away without paying for the ruined merchandise?" asks the man in a very mild voice that still raises the hairs at the back of Shirushi neck; that's the exact tone of voice Tatsuko uses on her.

"How was I supposed to know it wasn't an apple?" Naruto whines and the three younger looking of the ninja at his…guardian's(?) back stifle their giggle. The man rubs his temples in a longsuffering fashion.

"What is your excuse, Naruto?"

"… We weren't caught?" One of the ninja snorts and the man sighs.

"Next time I don't wanna hear about it, ok?" He must be very used to antics like these.

-o-

Tetsuko isn't as comprenssive as the children's guardian.

* * *

Notes

\- In the part where Shizuka hides her face in Naruto's back, that's because she has to restrain him (they were in the process of running away P: ) and then improvise so Shirushi wouldn't notice P:

\- I don't really like this part, it's not what I had in mind when I was first writing but I think that in the end it serves its purpose so here you have it. It's also very short :/

\- So today is my first free day since I was first hired and that's why you get an update! It's going well and I really like it (except the lack of writing time and that I end up seeing a lot of gruesome nota roja pictures -I work in a newspaper… I write a lot better in Spanish I promise- ) Also , there was someone who left me a review wishing me luck in the interview way way back, but they have their private messaging disabled and I couldn't respond, so I'm doing it here: Thank you Love Stories00!

\- Also, thank you everybody else! I really appreciate your support !


	15. Chapter 15

I apologise beforehand for the overlong notes at the end

* * *

XV. In which our heroes have a nice moment but it doesn't last.

* * *

Well feed and still warm form the bathhouse, Shizuka and her team begin to settle for the night. Sakura asks Shizuka if she can braid her hair so it isn't tangled in the morning, and then sits cross-legged in the futon with Shizuka kneeling at her back with a brush. Sakura has very pretty hair, and today she couldn't help but want to play with. It would be such a shame to have an enemy use it against her like it happened to canon Sakura. Maybe Shizuka can talk to her about keeping it up while on duty.

But now she just parts Sakura's hair in two and begins to braid one half. Naruto approaches them and asks if they can teach him to do it. Sakura seems about to say no, but in the end she just tells him what she will do to him if he gets her hair tangled.

-o-

This is the scene Kakashi walks into: two of his students kneeling behind the third to do her hair. It's such a peaceful scene he gives in and uncovers Obito's eye so he'll remember it always. He goes to sit on his futon and finds a homemade granola bar on his pillow. He smiles while he puts it away, he doesn't really like sweet things that much but he always appreciates the sentiment behind the little treats and nowadays his student is almost able to reverse-pickpocket them to him, which is a plus.

He sits cross-legged facing his team and they look at him curiously and a bit wary. He puts his chin in a hand and that elbow on his knee.

"You saw the town. What did you learn?" He asks and they blink at him.

"They produce silk," says Sakura after a moment of consideration. "We saw a lot of places selling it, and silkworms too." She scrunches her nose when she says the last bit and her teammates snicker. "And the name of the town is very obvious with all those trees growing everywhere."

"And it must be very safe: no one said anything when they saw us walk around unsupervised," adds Shizuka, finishing braiding her half of the hair and leaning to see how Naruto is doing. Kakashi sees pleased that he accepts easily his teammate's advice. "Uhmm, well, except Shime-san. But she is from somewhere else because she was lost."

"I think she was afraid," says Naruto after a moment, frowning a bit. He releases the lock of hair on his hands and the braid unravels a little, he frowns at it and finish braiding it as he elaborates, "not about being lost, because she was looking behind all the time instead of around… and when we were talking she raised a hand and her sleeve slipped down. She had a bruise around her arm."

Both the girls look a bit surprised, they didn't notice. Naruto draws himself inwards, uncharacteristically quiet because of the implications of the bruise and the girl's fear.

"I only noticed she was afraid after I saw the bruise."

To break the sudden silence, Kakashi loudly clears his throat.

"Well done, you three. Sakura-chan is mostly right about the silk. Yamaguwa sells it but it comes mostly from a settlement more north called Kaikoga-chou. They also produce the silk we use for making armour, so all this zone is heavily protected by the village. And that's the reason why it appeared so safe to Shizuka-chan, and why our escort mission is known as 'the silk road': it's a smooth one." He smiles at them, but then sighs. "I also noticed something weird about Shime-san. She and her companion seem to stay away from the rest of the guest, except the children. And they seemed especially wary of Team Momoko. By the way she holds herself and her mannerisms, I'd say she's from an old family, and by the bruise Naruto saw… she maybe was the bride of some noble or rich merchant; she ran away and now fears they send someone after her."

His team looks outraged at that, and they will probably encounter even worse things. But right now they may be able to do something about it, and maybe he can protect them from those things for a bit longer.

"Don't worry, if someone really comes after her we'll protect her." He reaches forward to pat their heads and sends them to sleep.

-o-

As predicted the group traveling to Konoha is larger: 23 people divided in 5 wagons, and 3 extra ones that contain only their things. The distribution is uneven, thought. There's one wagon that carries only two merchants and their stuff because it's apparently Very Expensive and they don't trust anyone else to watch over it, or being near it.

The clients look surprised to see the children who were running around the inn the day before as their guards, moving more or less gracefully and carrying heavy things along the older ninja. Shime and her companion, Tetsuko (an older woman wrapped in a kind of severe dignity), are resignedly sitting in a wagon with 4 other people, and Team 7 can't help but feel a bit guilty when she sees them armed and wearing their forehead protectors like they just betrayed her. They want to talk to her but Tetsuko glares at them every time they try to approach.

There is also a family of three –with their own wagon- whose mother mutters disapprovingly every time she sees of one of the kunoichi, and one boy that keeps hitting on Momoko while his older brother? cousin? they look alike, apologises to her and any other ninja that's nearby, and chastises his younger brother/cousin because "she is trying to do her job, Goro. Let's just let her do her job in peace. If bandits attack us she's gonna let them get you and I'm gonna be very compressive about it. Just stop. This is why I can't take you anywhere."

With more people and wagons they have to move slower and the ninja have to change the way they distribute themselves. Momoko, much to Kakashi-sensei approval, orders him to take the rear guard, makes herself the scout, gets Naruto (because while he isn't the fastest, he has more stamina than the others) to act as a runner, and organizes everyone else around and between the carts.

The stop at lunch isn't an easy affair either, as they have 8 horses that need to be watered and 23 people that need to use the bushes. The worst is the discussion that starts because, while some of clients don't want to go alone into the trees, they obviously don't want someone nearby. Fortunately for the genin -as they would be the ones to end up accompanying people- the clients in the end preferred to be brave and believe when told there was no danger.

But other than that, the journey is pretty boring.

-o-

The problems arrive when they make camp at night.

* * *

Long autor notes:

\- It's time for excuses! So basically I haven´t had the time to write or post, or anything, because they moved my shift at work, so now I work from Sunday to Friday in the evening/night and i recently acquired a dog (the most wonderful dog in existence, his name's Tenshi), so chapter 19 is about 1/4 completed… bad news for the AO3 crowd, but you still have 3 more chapters until I run out of already written content…

Basically I updated because 1) I got a bunch of super cute reviews that got me super motivated (a very hard thing to do, so thank you (v)) 2) Today is my country's Independence's Day (September 16 and not May 5! ) and I got a free day and yesterday they let us go home earlier :D

-About the actual fic: this is also filler-y and short and I didn't proofread, sorry

-and have you seen all my embarrassing typos in past chapters? The worst is that right now I'm feeling too lazy to fix them

\- This was the perfect opportunity to have a hot spring episode, but it wasn't the right moment :/

-Kakashi using the sharingan as a camera it's an idea I shamelessly stole from _A political perspective_ by MueraRashaye, it's great you should read it if you haven't

-I have the impression that Naruto is more observant of people than things. Except when someone likes him, but that happens to a lot of people too P:

\- And a bunch of things that happened since I last updated: SPICA's comeback! Go listen to their MV "Secret Time", it's glorious! ; Taemin Japanese solo album, like I don't like Taemin that much, but I don't know if it's me or he sounds kind of Gackt-ish? Just listen to "Final Dragon" and tell me he doesn't sound like Gackt ; INFINITE's new Japanese song "D.N.A." ! And the teasers for their comeback! (it's on September 19, so you should expect an update that day or the next P: ) ; and one note I edited at work about 8 dudes who got caught one hour after stealing 25 cows, it was hilariously written… by the Ministry of Public Security

\- and that's it. Thank you a lot for reading :D


	16. Chapter 16

XVI. In which the mission lefts much to be desired, but some expectations are meet (and succeed).

* * *

Kakashi's students get the first watch, and even if Kakashi trusts them enough to sleep while they do it, he's been a shinobi all his life and can't ever turn off completely that part of his brain that is aware of danger. That's why he's awake even before Sakura has the chance to reach him.

"We are surrounded and we couldn't count them all. More than 25 from the north, even more from the south, mostly swords," she says. Her voice is even but she is pale and her face is tight. Kakashi squeezes her shoulder reassuringly. "Shizuka-chan and Naruto are watching them."

"Go wake Momoko-kun and report. Do as she say," he orders and goes to find his other two students.

-o-

Momoko has control of the situation. The civilians are quickly woken and the wagons placed around them to act as a barricade and to corral the horses, the fire is extinguished. The genin are ready, she is ready, and her sempai trusts her to do this.

The first problem is that the presence of ninja does nothing to deter the attackers. The second is that while Kakashi-sempai does his best to stop them, there are a lot of bandits and they do get past him, mostly the ones that come from the trees and not the roads. The third is that a number of them have some ninja training -mostly genin but some low chunin- and no forehead protector, scratched or not. All those problems she and her team can deal with; Saito may be an overprotective worrywart, but in his quest to never, ever let anything bad happen to his students he trained them to be pretty lethal. And Kakashi-sempai's kids are doing very well too.

Then there is the one problem that gets the entire thing FUBAR: inside the barricade someone spooks and tries to hitch an even more spooked horse to a wagon.

"They are after my gold! I won't let them! I won't let them!" the man screams as he somehow manages to attach the horse and tries to run for it, breaking the barricade.

And suddenly there is an overturn wagon on the floor, a horse that may have a broken leg. The rest of the horses bolt, and civilians scream while trying to get away from both horses and attackers but just get in their defenders' way.

The ninja then have to change tactics as they are obligated to -instead of fend the horde back- pick off the attackers individually, until someone calls the retreat and the remaining bandits try to escape, some carrying the injured.

Team Saito prepare to pursuit but Momoko orders them to halt. They need to see first to the safety of the civilians and if the horses can be retrieved from where they bolted.

Surrounded by fires, hysteric civilians and the bodies of their attackers, Momoko sighs. An easy mission as smooth as silk, right?

-o-

The genin round up the civilians and calm the horses they manage to find while Kakashi and Momoko search for answers about this attack; no one still conscious was left to interrogate so they just examine the bodies. A lot are just unconscious but there are also a lot of dead. Those are mostly his work or Momoko's. Some bodies have sword wounds (accompanied by burns and blunt force trauma) and those can be easily attributed to the older genin team, the rest are the ones that make Kakashi worry about having to give the First Kill talk.

"They aren't normal bandits," says Momoko, with pure professionalism and later Kakashi will have time to feel proud of his kohai. "This attack wasn't normal, either. They were too many, too many nukenin, too organized. I'd call it even a small army, and they knew too well how this caravan moves."

"This zone is supposed to be patrolled constantly. Only small groups of bandits that make themselves pass as travellers have been known to avoid them, there's no way a group this big would be allowed to make it this far." Some of the patrols come from the outpost north, and these overlap with others sent by the village. If something happened in the outpost it may be the reason- Momoko stops suddenly, looking at one of the bodies. Burns and a fatal wound made by a kunai, either the work of Chise or Shizuka.

"Sempai…" she is pale and almost whispering. "I know her. She was a konoha genin."

And to make things worse Horatu arrives with his report on the civilians.

"Monoko-nee, Kakashi-san," he swallows and licks his lips, worried. "One of the girls is gone, we found her companion unconscious in the trees."

-o-

Kakashi leaves Momoko to secure prisoners and to see if she can identity more people, and then he goes back with a nervous Hotaru.

The moment they see Kakashi, a group of civilians stops bothering the genin and go to bother him instead, shouting complains that he doesn't have the patience or the time to hear.

"They took my gold!"

"Our luggage was damaged! There was heirloom porcelain there!"

"They stole my gold! You were supposed to stop them!"

"And you were supposed to do as you were told and stay put!" he cuts, letting killing intent lace his words. They step back and let him pass. Hotaru, even more nervous, doesn't come until he orders him to keep walking.

"Sorry about that, Hotaru-kun."

"It's- it's ok, Kakashi-san."

"You and your team did very well."

"Thank you, Kakashi-san… but we let the girl be taken."

"As the highest ranking the responsibility falls over me, Hotaru-kun. Stop worrying about your cousin."

"Yes, sir!"

-o-

His students are hovering worriedly over a still unconscious Tetsuko laid on the floor next to an equally unconscious Dankishi-san. There is also someone with a broken leg and someone else has a broken nose, but those are the most serious injuries (and the boy who flirted with Momoko is ok but annoyingly starry eyed), the teams did they job very well for the situation. Tatsuko is a bit beaten and has blood under her nails, which means she was fighting before she was knock-outed. Kakashi can't find any serious wounds that could be aggravated and decides wake her up forcibly with a jolt of chakra to her system; a technique used mostly to wake prisoners for interrogation because it isn't very gentle, not something one should use on a civilian, but he needs answers and she must have them, all her previous behaviour points to that.

Tetsuko wakes up violently and confused. Kakashi signals his team to restrain her. When she sees is them, she doesn't really calm, but at least stops trying to get away. He still doesn't signal his team to let release her just in case.

"Tetsuko-san, why there are people after Shime-san?"

"They were after the gold, you must have heard that stupid man. There's no one after Shir-me-san."

"Tetsuko-san, Shime-san was taken. We only found you." The woman collapses in tears and that's all that takes for her to spill all the story.

The girl's name is actually Miura Shirushi and she is the sole heiress of her clan. The Miura clan are the daimiyo's cousins and the owners of Kaikoga-chou and all the surrounding lands and they have a very old contract with Konoha. They had never been very numerous, but in the last years Shirushi lost all her family either to accidents or illness. After her older brother died in a 'horse accident', some mercenaries from a group called the Taoka-gumi arrived and took control of the settlement. That's when they realised the ninja that Konoha had posted in Kaikoga-chou had been working for the Taoka-gumi.

"That's why we were traveling in disguise. We know that the traitors killed the ones still loyal to your village, but we didn't know how far it went." Understandable because Konoha got a shipment from Kaikoga-chou after the Taoka-gumi took control of it and no one realised anything was wrong. Kakashi himself talked with the owner of a warehouse they employ in Yamaguwa the day before and the man said they talked with ninja from the outpost recently.

"And why do they need Shirushi-hime?"

"There is a man called Tsukasa Kazuo, he's the head of the Taoka-gumi. He insists that they are a legitimate business group. Shirushi-hime is the sole heiress, so if he were to marry her…"

"The land would be his legally." And everything produced there too. Kakashi sighs and drags a hand through his hair. "This is no good."

"We'll rescue her, right? Sensei?" asks Naruto. His three students are looking up at him with concern written all over their faces, so he smiles reassuringly to them.

"We already said we'd protect her." They have no option. She is way too important, that place is way too important, and they can't waste time and let them scape with the girl or the secrets.

He summons his dogs, sends Uuhei to inform the Hokage about the situation and the rest to track Shirushi and her kidnappers. He tells his team to get their equipment ready and asks Chise to bring Momoko.

"You'll go get her, sempai?" she asks as she arrives, and she's more anxious that she was when they meet for briefing back at Konoha.

"We can't afford to waste time. I've sent a message to the village. When he wakes, convince Dankishi-san to go back to Yamaguwa, if you explain the situation he'll even help keep the clients calm." Momoko is about to complain but that's when Guruko comes back and reports.

"Pakkun has their trail, boss."

"We are going!" calls Kakashi to his team. Before he leaves he stops with his back to Momoko. "Stop worrying and just do your job. You are good at it."

"I won't disappoint you again, sempai!"

"You haven't."

* * *

Notes

-Kakashi will always blame himself before blaming others, even more if he feels responsible for them.

\- Momoko's crush is even stronger now! (and it's inspired in the fact that all my high school friends had a crush on our physics professor… I think they still have a crush on him…It's been years and one of them is already married… He once made us climb to a roof so we could observe the water tank for a project, and it was his fault he had to haul a car battery for an entire day for another project, and it was also his fault the time we took two buses carrying a 3-meter-long plank of wood, and he made my brother make a raft out of milk cartons and then try it on a pool… For some reason I think I'm projecting him on Kakashi…)

\- I first got the idea of "the silk road" name for this mission and everything else parts from there: the town is called "mulberry", Kaikoga means silk-moth and -chou its added to the names of towns (following the trend of Sora-ku and Tenzaku-gai) and it resembles the romanisation of "butterfly", too. Shirushi's clan is Miura because I wanted her to have a samurai name and because in real life the Miura clan's mon is a butterfly (in the ninja word it's a silk-moth P:). Also, silk makes really good armour. 5 layers of silk are more resistant to impact and puncture, and less heavy, than a layer of Kevlar, and multiple layers of cloth make cutting with a slashing motion harder. Also, silk is antibacterial and hypoallergenic.

\- Ok, so INFINITE's new album and video is everything I wanted for this comeback. Go watch "The Eye" is way too cool, really cool, you won't regret it. My children are very talented.

\- Thanks for reading! (v)


	17. Chapter 17

XVII. In which no one is ready to deal with this kind of thing but an attempt is made.

* * *

The moment the fight ends Shizuka finds herself standing with a man at her feet. She doesn't know if he is alive. She doesn't bother to check, some meters away is Sakura throwing up. Naruto is at her side rubbing at her back, he turns and Shizuka catches his eyes, they are a bit too wide, too much white showing. She doesn't know how she looks, maybe the same, but doesn't stop to think about it. Doesn't stop to think about the man at her feet, and just walks to her teammates. They got separated at some point she doesn't really recall, one moment they were together and the next they weren't, she wanted to get to them, and couldn't. She doesn't stop to think about how much of the fight she doesn't recall, and just goes to her teammates and sees that they are mostly uninjured, scrapes, bruises and shallow cuts. If this were a sparring session with Kakashi-sensei, he would be here poking at their ribs and jaws, but he is somewhere else and this wasn't like a sparring session.

Momoko, bless her heart, gives an order and Shizuka latches to it, to a task to do.

-o-

By the time she is running with her team following a dog she can think again, and between jumps from a branch to the other, she tells herself that the people she fought meant harm to her and those she was protecting and, because of that, their fates were just the consequence of their own acts.

She knows that she is just rationalizing and compartmentalizing, but she is not going to stop her mind from protecting itself. She is a shinobi, she endures, this is the main part of the job. She was trained for this. She just has to keep track of her own actions, lay some lines on the sand. Fortunately, she has a lot of examples of what fucked up looks like, to compare herself against. For example, Yagami Light (he is fictional, but does that really matters? She is living in a shounen manga) is a bad example of rationalization and of how easy is to go from 'I was right to kill this man' to 'I did good by killing a man' to 'I must kill to do good'.

(Other example is her brother, or just a lot of people from her family in general, but she is not going to go into that.)

Naruto and Sakura must need a talk. She doesn't know what they did or how they are dealing, and she is thinking how to ask and what she'll have to say, when the rest of the dogs come into sight. Guruko joins his pack in the ground and Shizuka's team follows them from above. She'll ask when they stop.

-o-

"What did you find?" asks Kakashi and Pakkun goes to his side.

"They took her east and then we lost track, if they have shinobi it must have been a shunshin. Then we found some stragglers carrying the stolen gold who said they were taking her to Kaikoga-chou. Found the trail again northeast before it disappeared, so it must be true."

"Good job."

"Sure thing, boss."

The dogs find the trail once again before it disappears slightly more north. They have bypassed Yamaguwa completely and he wants to press their pace faster but is students aren't used to this and Kakashi remembers they are fresh genin who haven't sleep nor have eaten since the day before. Cursing himself, he stops.

They practically collapse and Sakura slips from the branch she is perched on. He picks her mid fall and feels real proud of her for having held up until he let them rest. Shizuka is not much better and even Naruto looks tired. He settles them in a wide forking branch and hands them ration bars, he allows himself to smile at the faces they make when they eat (and eat them all they do, hunger stronger than disgust), and bites into one himself, finishing quickly, already used to the taste.

With food and water, they perk up a little. Basic needs meet, he focuses on the other thing he overlooked.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah," says Naruto, less enthusiastic that usual. "We just needed to catch our breath a bit."

Kakashi isn't the best person to talk about their emotional state, too awkward, too messed up, he doesn't even reflect on his own emotions too much, if at all. Who thought it was a good idea to put three kids under his care? He doesn't really remember his own first kill, his first serious fight, what he felt, what he thought. He was younger, too. And it was war. The academy teaches that they have to kill without hesitation or remorse, and don't feel. But even he knows how impossible that is (what are the results of that way of thinking).

"That's good to hear. But not what I meant… This was your first time seeing real battle. So… are you ok?"

"I-," begins Sakura in a false start. She shallows and tries again. "We got some scrapes and bruises that we treated at the camp, sensei. Nothing serious." He knows that she understands and he isn't sure to press. He hates being pressured to talk. But Gai has impressed into him the importance of this talk, and Gai is better at this kind of thing.

"I think I killed a man," Shizuka says suddenly in an even voice, looking at him to the eye with her usual solemn expression, _just like Itachi_ he doesn't allow himself to think. Then she drops her eyes and draws herself inwards. "At least I think I did, I didn't check, and I'm not sure he was the only one. I- I don't remember all the fight, it's all jumbled up… But I'm ok about it, I mean, he was trying to kill me. Is that… wrong?"

"You acted in accord to the situation. Shizuka-chan, well done." What else can he tell her? _Wrong_ is a relative concept to shinobi.

"I'm sure I didn't," says Sakura, worrying at her lip. "But I was so scared, sensei. I know that Shinobi must be fearless, but I was scared, may be I'm not meant for-"

"This was supposed to be a C-rank mission with low probabilities of combat. You are still fresh from the Academy and our opponents outnumbered us. You weren't meant _yet_ for this mission. It's natural you were scared, but you made it thought, Sakura." He rubs her head. She has her hair held up in a braided crown thing that's difficult to grab at, a serious practical hairstyle that looks good on her. "You'll just get better from here. And you Naruto? You ok?"

Naruto takes a bit in answer, but when he does he brightens, not as much as usual, but better.

"Yeah. I'm now…. Let's rescue Shime-hime!" he says standing up and almost slips down, but the girls grab him before he can fall.

"Her name is Shirushi!" Sakura scolds him as she tugs him so he sits down again. Shizuka turns to look Kakashi when she confirms that Naruto is safe.

"When the dogs finish their job, can I pet them?"

"Aren't you supposed to be a cat person?"

They'll be ok.

-o-

Naruto was surprised to hear Shizuka voice his own concerns. She usually looks so confident and after the fight she just keep going like no big deal. Yeah, she looked concerned about Sakura, but she is always looking after her (and him). But like him she was worried she had killed someone, and like him couldn't recall everything (he sort of can, but he made a lot of clones, and like Iruka-sensei told him, they pass him their memories when they dispel, so he remembers some things very well, and some others he can't make sense of). He certainly wasn't trying to kill anybody, but fighting tugs isn't the same as sparring with a jounin or even his teammates; they didn't duck or block all the hits, and sometimes one hit was enough to bring them down, but he didn't think about it until it was over and they began to separate the bodies between the ones still alive and those who weren't.

And even if Kakashi-sensei said they did well, and so did Momoko and the older genin, he was worrying about it. So he is glad Shizuka said it, because he is sure he wasn't going to and he'll keep worrying.

Now they just have to get Shime. They promised, even if she doesn't know.

Before they go Kakashi-sensei takes something from his vest. It's a small ball of something, wrapped in cloth, he holds it where they can see it.

"This is a soldier pill. If you eat it you'll be able to fight for three days without stop, but when the effects pass you'll have chakra depletion. By your size, I could allow you to take a third each and it'll be enough to tide you over until this mission is over or we find the time to let you rest. This isn't ideal, but nothing about the situation is. It's your decision."

"I'll take it," says Sakura with no hesitation. "My stamina isn't as great as Shizuka-chan's or Naruto's, I don't think I'll be able to keep up."

"…I'll take it too, sensei," answers Shizuka finally, after a moment of consideration.

That just leaves Naruto, he is already rested enough. He always recuperates faster than the girls, and he is beginning to think it isn't normal, not that he is complaining about it.

"I'll just take another of these awful rations, Kakashi-sensei." He looks at Naruto like he knows what he is thinking about and nods. He gives him the disgusting bar and Naruto pinches his nose to eat it. When they get back to the village he's making Iruka-sensei buy him ramen, and bugging Shizuka until she makes the croquettes, and he'll never complain again the days she makes tempura veggies instead.

While he eats, Kakashi-sensei divides the pill in three parts hands a piece each to the girls, the third one he gives to Naruto.

"Keep it with you just in case, ok?" Naruto wraps it again in the waxed cloth it came in and tucks it in into his hip-pouch.

After eating the pill (and it apparently tastes terrible too, because Sakura complained that it kind of made her tongue go numb) the girls get a healthier colour and begin to breathe easier.

They begin to move again, faster than before and the number of mulberries (they are easy to identify because of the fruit) gradually augments until they are pretty much the only kind of three around. Then trees begin to be a little smaller and younger until they have to continue on the ground along the dogs (the big bulldog looks even bigger from there).

Then Kakashi-sensei slows the pace until they are walking and they encounter a wall. It's not as tall as Konoha's wall, but still taller than the trees around. They stay under cover and Kakashi-sensei sends the dogs first. While they wait he begins explaining some things to them.

"Shirushi-hime's clan isn't just important because they are relatives to the daimyo and the ninja stationed here weren't just to protect them." Naruto kind of got that when Tetsuko told them the truth; it's something about the land, but Naruto is worried Shirushi/Shime and her fear and her bruises more.

One of the dogs -the grey one with some sort of mohawk- returns and tells them to follow. As they move along the wall, under the cover of the mulberries, Sakura asks:

"You said before that Konoha controls this zone because they produce silk for our armours. Are those yakuza just after the silk? I mean, it's expensive but not that especial, isn't it a bit risky to enrage a ninja village just for some silk farm?"

They join three of the dogs, who have captured and subdued a couple of guards. The small pug (Naruto thinks is called Pakkun) informs them that the rest of the pack is waiting on the other side of the wall and goes to Shizuka demanding to the carried. As they climb the wall, Kakashi-sensei answers Sakura's question.

"Well, that's part of the reason. You see, underneath 'the silk road' mission -which everybody knows is super easy and not that relevant at all- there's another 'concealed' mission to take shipments form Kaikoga-chou to the village twice a year." They reach the top of the wall and huddle low to avoid being seen. Naruto takes a look over the edge and sees… more mulberries, some buildings peeking out of the greenery at the centre, and the curve of a river on the far side. "Because it's very obvious that that's what this place produces, whoever who learns of that secret mission will assume that those shipments are just silk. But Kaikoga-chou also cultivates some other stuff among the mulberries, and that is an A-rank secret, so you'll have to keep quiet about it." They begin to climb down and Kakashi-sensei goes on a tangent. "The soldier pills that you took have a couple of stimulants that help you regain your stamina and produce chakra faster. They are extracted from plants that can't be cultivated in Konoha." They jump down the last meters to the ground. "But they can grow in Kaikoga-chou."

And then they are surrounded by tallish bushes with big shiny dark green leaves and small red fruits along their branches, growing under the taller mulberry.

"Coffee…" breaths Shizuka, surprised.

-o-

Being in the middle of a _cafetal_ it's such a nostalgic experience and such a shock that Shizuka has to check herself in case she begins to speak Spanish. Coffee is a thing Eli had always associated with home. Her city was full of small cafes, all of them different and good and if Eli had gone to a starbucks it was for tea. Some of those small cafes sold coffee cultivated specifically for them. She managed her years at uni thanks wonderful 10 _pesos_ coffee made by a really cool old man who lived next to the campus and each morning at 7:30 arrived with a gigantic thermos to sell. Some people had coffee bushes in their garden, it grow half wild at the edge of some avenues. Seeing it grow here makes kind of sense, the coffee she buys is very good quality, like at home- no, not her home, like Eli's.

She picks a cherry from a bush and pops it into her mouth, it's sweet and doesn't really tastes like coffee; it's a weird taste that Eli hadn't really liked, that Shizuka hadn't ever tasted before and still misses, but right now Shizuka misses furiously even the stink of the rotting fruit after the pulp was separated from the bean, something she doesn't know but remembers vividly.

"Konoha it's too high over the sea level," she says before she knows she is saying it, knowledge from another life. "Here is low enough and the mulberry gives it enough shade."

"That's right," says Kakashi-sensei and Shizuka is suddenly aware of her team and the dogs and that she had set Pakkun down at some point. She feels more Shizuka and less Eli. "And that's not something that everybody knows."

"Must have read it somewhere," she answers absently and hopes it is really something written somewhere she can believably have access to. Kakashi-sensei just hums noncommittally in a way that doesn't give her a cue, damn him.

"Let's go," he says and they begin to move again. Shizuka spits the raw coffee beans into her hand to keep and hoard like she does the bones of birds and rats.

-o-

Closer to the buildings there are other plants growing between the coffee bushes, there and there almost as if someone wanted to disguise them, not very effectively for someone paying attention, but well enough to don't catch the eye immediately even if the leaves are paler and smaller with a shape similar to bayleaf, as these other plants are about the same height as the coffees and have red fruits too. If Shizuka is right, this is also a plant that Eli knew about even if she never saw it in person, and the effects of the soldier pill would make a lot of sense.

"Sensei," she calls his attention just to be sure she is right. "Even with the coffee this settlement isn't profitable enough to risk Konoha's anger."

Kakashi-sensei smiles at her and keeps walking until he stops next to one of the may-be-coca.

"This other plant is also used to make the soldier pill. It's full of nutrients, and it's also an analgesic and a stimulant that aids the oxygenation of the blood while it mitigates hunger, thirst and exhaustion." Yep, that sounds like coca. "For some reason all attempts to cultivate it back on the village result in a lower quality plant. And because everything that's produced here is very valuable for us, this place it's a Konoha outpost even if it belongs to the Miura clan." He makes a thoughtful noise. "But for the yakuza it may be more valuable for other reasons. This plant can be processed to make a highly addictive drug, a very expensive one."

"So everything that happened to Shime-hime and her family was because of money!?" Ahead, Kakashi-sensei stops once more and looks at them over his shoulder.

"I fear so, Naruto-kun," he says with a tired sigh and keeps walking forwards.

Things are pretty much the same everywhere.

-o-

But she doesn't have too much time to think about that because suddenly there's smoke.

* * *

The long notes attack again !

\- Oops it's been a long time isn't it? And I haven't written a thing, well I have… just like the same scene like three times and yeah, still stuck.

\- I kind of find Naruto's POV the hardest to write so this is an attempt to do it more!

-A secret: they weren't supposed to kill anyone yet, so all this part was kind of a spur of the moment thing and the one who wasn't sure about how they'll deal with it was me, oops

-Right now one of Kakashi's main problems as a teacher is that he doesn't know how to pace his students' training; he is aware he has issues because of how he was raised and trained and believes that Itachi snapped for those same reasons, and right now they are at peace so it's unnecessary to do that to his students, but he also knows that he can't coddle them because they'll die (and war can start at any moment).

\- The coffee and the coca are other of those self-indulgent things; it ended up making a look of sense to me (I mean if they have tomatoes and tobacco it isn't so far fletched that they have coca, and they do have the properties of the soldier pill, just exaggerated as manga tends to do) and I just ran with it, and I don't actually know if it is possible to plant those three plants together, let's assume it is for narrative purposes (though coffee does grow better under the shade of taller trees and that's how they usually plant him around here, and mulberry is good for inter-cropping), but all other coffee and coca facts are true. Also, the use of coca leaf is important for people in a lot of places because of the properties described above, but remember that coca is not the same as cocaine. Don't do drugs, kids.

\- Yamaguwa is supposed to be about 175km north of Konoha, and Kaikoga-chou is 15 km north of Yamaguwa. The caravan moves at 3/5kmph plus stops. Let's assume an average ninja running at a fast but sustainable speed goes at 30/40kmph (fastest human recorded speed, for sprinting but they are ninjas, and a jounin may reach over 60 as a cruising speed -which is the theoretical top human speed-) and that tired genin can still go at a speed around 20kmph. At full tilt a ninja is way way faster, tho. Also, now Konoha is between the tropics, just high enough it snows in winter.

\- About Eli's home town: this is not important to the story, but in the ao3 version I wrote in the notes that Eli's hometown is Coatepec and not Xalapa (because Coatepec means hill of snakes or snake hill, and to further differentiate Eli, from, well, me, Auri. Buuuut I just love my hometown too much and if I get the chance I wanna write about it more than just the little coffee anecdotes :) )

\- So in the traditional super long personal notes that I should keep on my blog or something but I write for you because when I was young this was the kind of thing you found in fic and this fic is written for 12 years old me (and I like ranting even if no one reads it).

Anyways, I birthday was just a bit over a month ago (I wanted to update for my birthday) and today was the newspaper Christmas party (on my day off! I had to go to the office on my day off! The abuse! And I didn't even win the flat screen in the raffle!) and I don't thing I will get the chance to update for actual Christmas, so this is an early present (if everything goes right you'll have a timely Reyes Magos present, so will the ao3 crowd who have been abandoned for a while).

\- Aaaaand in the k-pop scene, BTS's WINGS! I'm A.R.M.Y. now and nothing hurts! 21th century girl saved me! (and cypher 4 too, and pretty much the whole album)

\- Aaaaaaaand would it upset you if I rewrote stuff from previous chapters?

\- Aaaaaaaaaaaand lastly because it's more likely for you to read this if it is at the bottom, I posted a side fic (of something that may be will happen in the future in the story)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter 3

Happy Holidays!


	18. Chapter 18

_Heads up to mostly implied situations that may be upsetting that revolve around the treatment of a hostage._

* * *

In which we learn the bad guy's motivations.

* * *

Tsukasa Kazuo is a charming, likeable man because that's what he made himself be. His adoptive father knew of this and approved, and that was part of the reason he inherited the Taoka-gumi from him. That and a good business sense.

Part of being a charming likeable boss, is to once in a while make an appearance around his underlings and talk to them. This time it proves to be a good idea.

In a dockside warehouse there are some new recruits unloading merchandise when one of the boxes opens and spills all its contents on the floor. Immediately the workers try to pick it up, taking care of not leaving a single leaf behind, nevertheless one of the newest boys just stands confusedly to the side.

"I thought we were moving important stuff," he says to one of the other boys kneeling in the floor gathering the leaves.

"Are you stupid? This stuff is expensive."

"What do you mean? We cultivated this shit back at home!"

And that was everything he needed to hear to signal one of his aides to take the boy aside for a conversation. If the boy was mistaken, all he could lose was some time (and the boy would be returned, of course, so all the other could hear how nice is the boss). But if the boy was right, then there was a good chance for business.

-o-

The boy, Ichiro no family name, fidgets in the seat he was offered, griping with both hands the tumbler and sipping warily at the contents, probably not used to the good stuff.

"Tell me Ichiro-kun, where are you from?" asks Kazuo sipping at his own tumbler.

"Uhmm, ehm, it's a small place north in the Land of Fire, Boss. Kaikoga-chou."

"That's a bit of a long way, Ichiro-kun. Why move all the way here?"

"My family makes silk," says the boy scowling. "I didn' wanna work with worms all my life."

"Silk, eh? Back at the warehouse you said you cultivated that plant at your hometown, didn't you?, I thought no one did in the continent."

"Well, yeah, Boss. We grow it, makes good pain medicine. The ninjas buy it from us along the silk and the coffee."

"Coffee too, Ichiro-kun? What would the ninjas want with it? 'Pain medicine' I understand, but coffee and silk?"

"I dunno what do they do with the silk, but they use the coffee too for medicine. Give us a good price and post some guards, we haven't had bandits ever."

"That's very interesting, Ichiro-kun. Do you think people in your town will want to do business with us?"

-o-

And the answer was no, because the land belonged to a noble clan so all they produced belonged to them, and all business had to go thought Miura-sama, his terrible perchance for honour and the Konoha ninja guard.

But all those problems had a simple solution, because Kazuo was a charming man, and Miura and his sister where the last ones of their line. Arrange a little accident, easy. The girl was reluctant, but the maid was easily convinced he had her lady's best intentions in mind. The hard part was the ninja. Ninja are always the hard part. Oh the nukenin make really good workers, yes. But the loyal ones? A pain.

But Kazuo is a charming man, and there is always the discontented.

-o-

Sato Keiji won't kneel for him but it doesn't matter, he has already convinced four of the Konoha genin to work for them, and eliminated the other ninja; that's commitment enough. Kazuo is not surprised he got the jounin too, Keiji unconformity with his village was the fact they been denying him a promotion for a while, and even if the poison Kazuo gifted him (a nice special imported one, just a little token of appreciation, a courting gift of a sort) helped too, it was all Keiji work. Hidden villages are so wasteful.

"The envoy received the shipment and they didn't notice anything amiss."

"Excellent. Now we just need our princess signature and we are set. Now that she is mourning is a good time."

"It would be so much easier to forge it."

"But wouldn't it be much satisfying to do this the correct way, Keiji-kun? To convince her to accept? Less problematic in the long way, too."

Keiji scowls and doesn't answer before bowing his head and going. He doesn't get it, but one day he'll be loyal to Kazuo and then he'll understand. It's more satisfying this way.

-o-

The girl glares at the wall over his shoulder and doesn't look at him nor the delicately arranged dinner laid over the table. She won't eat until she is released. That is the last thing she said to him since she got confined to her room, so Kazuo takes all his meals with her.

"You are only making this more difficult for you, Shirushi-hime. I have all the time in the world and you'll eventually say yes." Not that Kazuo won't pressure her. At first she was free to roam the castle under Keiji's watch, but she continued to be difficult and rebellious and got her little pretty nose where it didn't belong in, which lead her to her current situation. The girl stands up to go, but falters as she is many days into her hunger strike. When she uses a hand to steady herself on the back of a chair her sleeve falls down revealing a bruise, a well-hidden one, there is probably more and her stumbling and stiffness may be from the wounds. "Well, it seems that Keiji-kun isn't as patient as I am." He stands up and gently cradles her injured arm. "You don't need to tolerate this kind of thing, Shirushi-hime. Once you say yes everything will be as before. You'll have your house back and you'll be able to order Keiji-kun around. Not so bad for letting me take a couple decisions there and there, isn't it?" He caresses her jaw, to make her meet his eyes, and approaches her. Almost an embrace. "I'll treat you as you deserve, Shirushi."

The girl twists out of his grasp but sits down and takes a reluctant bite of fruit.

One step at time, and soon she'll be eating from his hand.

-o-

"What do you mean they are gone?!"

"I told you it was a bad idea to keep her, Tsukasa-sama," Keiji answers calmly. Still not kneeling. Anger won't help, so Kazuo sighs and sits straight in the chair of the head of the Miura clan.

"And you were right, Keiji-kun." Still, one needs to be firm with one's underlings. "But it doesn't negate the fact that they got away under the guard of your ninja, Keiji-kun. It's no use for me to let them under your command if they can't do their job."

"They'll bring them back, Tsukasa-sama."

"Let's better hope they won't gain the attention of your village, Keiji-kun," he tells him with a serious look, but Kazuo then shrugs in a way that conveys _what do you do,_ and smiles. It's not really a gentle smile because Keiji seems to appreciate these displays of ruthlessness."And we'll have to do this the hard way when they get back. We gave her all the opportunities, so it's her own fault, isn't it?"

"Of course, Tsukasa-sama." And then Keiji bows.

-o-

When Keiji decided to work for the Taoka-gumi he had been impressed with the man; Tsukasa had known exactly what to offer in exchange for Keiji cooperation, he always knew how to make people want to work for him, to make them be glad to work for him. It didn't work on Keiji –Keiji is only loyal to his own interest- nor considered Tsukasa to be more than a way to finally get his dues, but he had been impressed all the same.

And right now it just pisses him off.

Everything is going to hell because of it, it could have been easier to just kill the stubborn little chit. He told Tsukasa but the idiot had to play his games.

"You idiots let the Konoha teams alive!" The genin who reported to him –a nukenin form somewhere he didn't bother to know- falls down when Keiji backhands her.

"They had a jounin with them!" one other idiot protests. This one was on his team so he'll should know better than talk back to him. He still has enough sense to cower when Keiji turns in his direction but the lucky idiot is saved when Tsukasa stops Keiji with a hand on his shoulder. Keiji has to rein in the impulse to break his wrist.

"Well," says Tsukasa in that oh so genial tone of his. "It wasn't really your fault." He walks to where Shirushi is being restrained and grabs her harshly by the jaw. "If hime-sama had been a good girl all this would have been averted." He releases her to address the rest of the room. "We'll take the saplings and as much product as we can, then we'll burn this place." Shirushi begins to struggle and beg but Tsukasa ignores her. "We'd be able to use it as a bargaining chip."

"And the girl?" asks the one holding her.

"We'll bring her along; this whole affair has been a very frustrating one." says Tsukasa, smiling. Then he turns to Keiji. "I let you and your ninja deal with this place, Keiji-kun."

By now Konoha must know that Keiji is working for the Taoka-gumi and with the stupid note in his files, there is no way he'll be able to convince them he was coerced into it and be demoted but not executed. He may have to obey Tsukasa now, but one day he'll make the man realise his errors.

* * *

\- And this was your slightly belated Día de Reyes' present! In the way we celebrate it in my country, children get presents from the Three Wise Kings and we eat Rosca de Reyes (it translates directly to King's Ring or wreath, it's a sweet bread made in a ring shape, decorated with thick jelly, candied fruit and stuff. Here they bake it with a baby figurine (or many, if it is big) that represents baby Jesus hidden inside, if you get it in your slice, you have to make or buy tamales for Candlemas on February 2 (I owe tamales for the people at the newspaper)). Even if I'm not religious (its traditional and fun and it makes people happy, so I celebrate it), I really like how different are the customs for Epiphany around the world!

\- This part was the hard to write for many reasons and now I'm just glad that I got it out of the way, unfortunately, in all this time (since around the time I began to post the fic here) I haven't been able to write the chapter that goes next, I have stuff, but it's not ready,

Aaaand:

\- Shirushi eating is she deciding she was going to escape.

\- Tetsuko kind of lied to Kakashi, just in the parts that made her seem bad and it was a bit out of guilt.

Thanks for reading! (v)


	19. Omakes

I'm still stuck on chapter 19 I KNOW what it's supposed to happen, but I can't write it a way I like, but it's been a while so here you have some omakes:

(They are crossovers, because I really like crossovers, and incomplete, because I ran out of steam)

* * *

 **Overdo**

 _verb over·do \ˌō-vər-ˈdü\_

 _: to carry to excess or beyond the proper limit : to overtax the strength of; fatigue; exhaust._

Shizuka had been Eli in another life so she should have been more careful to not jinx herself saying "at least I wasn't reborn as…"

x

HARRIET POTTER

Up to that moment in her short life, Harriet Juniper Potter -Harry to her friends- had had more death threatening experiences than most and was used to the most ridiculous and unexpected things happening to her of all people. But then she went into the Chambers of Secrets to save Ginny, fought a basilisk, got bitten by it, and woke up remembering cold, the smell of the sea, a pair of shocked frightened blue eyes and a long needle sticking out her neck. _"Oh no, not again,"_ she thought.

Then she saw Ginny looking concernedly at her, sitting in the flooded floor of the Chamber next to Flawkes and decided she would panic later, they needed to get out first.

o

Living with the Dursley become even more unpleasant with the memories of Shizuka's friends and team and Eli's supportive family and friends. The chores she would have done willingly and even enjoyed in other lives became, well, a chore, even more with the absence of all these little things Shizuka used to fill the time she spend alone and that Harry didn't have the freedom to do in Number 4 Privet Drive. The only things she was glad to have in this incarnation were three: her friends at Hogwarts, Hedwig and the knowledge to avoid the worst of the things to come. This time she would even have the opportunity to write it down.

But the most unpleasant thing was having to be polite to Aunt Marge. Harry couldn't afford to blow her up like Harry James and attract the attention of the ministry. Not if she wanted a chance to talk to Sirius and plan Wormtail demise. So the lights only faltered a bit while Aunt Marge badmouthed her mum, and Harry smiled really sweet when she poured Aunt Marge a drink, in a way that had to be really worrying to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. And it took time, but in the end Aunt Petunia couldn't take more insults directed at her late sister nor the little unnerving signs of Harry loosely controlled magic, and called it a night.

While Uncle Vernon helped his more than tipsy sister to the guest room, Harry took her opportunity and ambushed Aunt Petunia.

"Sign my permission and I'll go away for the rest of the summer. I can find my way to London and ask a friend to stay with her. Her parents are dentists. You can say I ran away."

Aunt Petunia signed the permission.

"Wait until we are asleep and don't make noise, will you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

o

At midnight Harry packed her trunk, released Hedwig with instructions of catching up with her at the Leaky Cauldron at noon and, feeling spiteful, on her way out she took Ripper's collar and let him slip out behind her.

Then she walked down the dark empty streets, pulling along her all worldly possessions and hoping to see a grim.

In the end she did like Harry James and sat down in the curb. Padfoot didn't disappoint and emerged from the bushes at the other side of the road. Harry took out a biscuit from her pocket, brought along with the express purpose of dog luring, and held it out.

"Hey puppy. Did you ran way too?"

And then, like magic, there was a dog eating from her hand.

She scratched his ears and when she knew he wouldn't be spooked he hugged his neck, taking care of holding gently fistfuls of fur, and quietly said:

"Sirius, I know this is you."

The dog whined and tried to get away, but she didn't release him even when she knew she was hurting him.

"I know what happened that night, Sirius. I know who you search. Let me help you."

The dog stopped his frantic attempts to escape.

"Let's find a place to talk."

o

She sat tailor style on the floor behind a bush in the park, this way Padfoot was taller than her.

"We need to go to Diagon Alley and contact Remus Lupin." Padfoot whined and brought his ears back pressed to his head. She leaned forwards to pet them. "If we explain things to him he'll understand. They need to catch Wormtail before they catch you. I don't want to go back to my relatives and you are supposed to be my guardian, aren't you?" That made him perk up instantly. He barked, wagging his tail.

"Do you trust me?" He barked again and walked exited circles around her. An enthusiastic, yes. "Then you'll need disguise." She brought Ripper's pilfered collar out of her luggage and put it around Padfood's neck.

"If you transform near me, will it activate the trace?" Padfood trough about it for a moment and then moved his head side to side. "I need a disguise too. Transform back and I'll tell you what to do."

o

Sirius didn't like her idea at all at almost got them discovered in his outburst until she explained that she wanted him to cast a glamour on her.

o

When she asked for a room in the Leaky Cauldron she 'accidentaly' let her sleeve fall a bit showing the hand-shaped bruise, looked at Tom tearfully in the eye, giving him a complete view of her face and it's own bruises, and he mimed locking his lips and throwing the key away.

She felt guilty, for doing this, to Sirius more than anyone, because his parents were abusive (not that hers weren't, in a different way) and it hurt him just to craft the illusion on her, but she really didn't need someone coming looking.

o

Once alone with Sirius in the room, she dropped to her knees so she could hug him around the neck. "I'm sorry, Sirius. But it worked." Sirius whined and nosed at her arm. "It's ok. Let's just write a note for Remus."

x

A YOUNGLING IN THE CRÈCHE

The first time she gets a vision she is 7 standard years old and it leaves her unconscious for two days. Such a vision merits that Master Yoda goes to talk to her in the med-bay when she awakens.

"I understand now why attachment is forbidden, Master Yoda. I was a great beast, in my vision, a dragon. And in the planet I lived, dragons where breed to fight in wars, like the clones. But we also where airships and we carried a crew and we had Captains. I loved my Captain, Master Yoda.

"She sang to me when I was in my egg and when I was born I knew all the songs, that's why I choose her and not the boy they wanted for me. Then there as the war and we were fighting over the sea and under us there here waterships fighting too and I was hurt from one of the cannons and then we were boarded, because we dragons where valuable and to control a dragon they had to capture the Captain first.

"And they got her and she was hurt and I was going with them but then she fell. So I dived after her. She probably died when she hit the water, it was so high, but I didn't care because I loved her, and I didn't care either about my crew, I loved them too but they weren't her, and I couldn't care about the boarders as it was their fault, so I dived into the water but I was hurt and I drowned and they died too because they were attached to me. So many lives for nothing but grief, Master Yoda."

* * *

 **Overfull**

 _Adjective /ˌōvərˈfo͝ol/_

 _Containing an excessive amount of something_

Like people from other realities.

In which Shizuka meets improbable people.

x

In her most recent manga expedition (still in a quest to find the ninja version of One Piece, even if it was unlikely she would find it; anti-establishment pirates aren't a thing likely to get pass the censors), Shizuka stopped in front of a shelve and took the last available Maganyan Monthly, contemplating if she should buy it or not, it had some nice one-shots that looked intriguing, but the only serial in it she liked was Stealthy Love, a romance between ninjas in the Warring Sates Period, so maybe she should just wait for the tankobon.

Deciding she needed to know if the conspirator was discovered in time, she turned and found herself face to chest with a man in a black and red coat, she looked up and red eyes looked back. It could not be. It wasn't possible.

"It's the last one?" he asked and Shizuka could only wordlessly nod. The man sighed, looked around, and asked in a gruff but bashful manner, "Would you let me read one of the stories after you buy it?"

Not taking her eyes from him, still shocked, Shizuka offered him the magazine. He awkwardly took it, and rubbing the back of his neck with a hand so he could look away from her, said:

"We could share it or something, I just want to read the one." Shizuka nodded and woodenly followed him to the counter to pay. There, the man was assaulted by a shorter blond man in white and blue. Shizuka stared and stared.

"Kuuu-ro-pi~," the blond man said clinging to the red eyed man. "There you are. Oh, you got your manga it's been a while, I wonder if they already found out who was the one to poison the clan head." The blond man turned his attention to Shizuka, his face pleasant but his eyes calculating. "And who is this lovely girl? Kuro-pon! Did you steal this girl manga?"

"I did no such thing! It was the last one and she agreed to share it!"

"Uhmm I can wait for the compilation volume, so you can keep it, ehmm…"

"And you didn't introduce yourself! Tut tut," said the blond man to the red eyed man. "This rude-one is Kuro-wan," he said pointing with a thumb to his companion. "And I'm Fai D. Flourite," he completed with a flourish and a bow.

"My name is Kurogane!" said the actual real Kurogane picking up the actual real Fai by the back of his yukata and shaking.

"…Shizuka," she said in an awed voice. "My name is Shizuka." Both turned their attention to her and she couldn't help it. "Uhmmm you know the story about the witch with a store, do you?"

Fai looked at Kurogane and Kurogane looked at Fai. They both looked at her.

"Oh, yeah," said Fai not quite suspicious yet. "That was an interesting manga, with the wishes."

"I liked better the dimension travel. Ehmm I should invite you to dinner, we could discuss the plot and I could lend Kurogane-san some older numbers of the magazine…"

"If it isn't a bother, we would love to, Shizuka-chan. We just need to pick up our travel companions, is it ok?"

"Of course, Fai-san."

* * *

In order: Harry Potter, Star Wars (and Temeraire) and Tsubasa Chronicles

There is another two: a crossover with Ao no Exorcist that I published somewhere in secret and I have been writing instead of chapter 19 P: and a different HP crossover I'm saving up for another time


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